


Playing With Fire

by Boxxsaltz



Category: K-pop, Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F, hot ladies being hot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-02 02:32:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19190158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxxsaltz/pseuds/Boxxsaltz
Summary: When Sooyoung decided to go after her boss’s wife as the ultimate power move, she didn’t expect to encounter the likes of Joohyun. But Sooyoung likes playing with fire. Even if it might burn her down in the end.





	1. Chapter 1

It was just a game at first. A sick, twisted, unethical game that Sooyoung could easily forget about the consequences when it felt so  _good._  There was a dual rush from fucking the suits in her office over. Well, fucking their wives that is.   
  
Honestly, the first time was a mistake. A pretty woman batted a lash at her at the bar and Sooyoung whisked her off for a night. It wasn’t until she was at a company mixer a couple of weeks later and she ran into the woman hanging off the arm of one of their accounting managers that she realized. The woman looked flustered and Sooyoung was too but she was also rather pleased. That particular manager was a cunt and there was a satisfying warmth in her gut when she flipped her hair and walked off knowing that she had, by extension, screwed him too.   
  
She thought that would be the one and only time. It was an accident, after all, but then curiosity struck. What if it wasn’t an accident?   
  
So the next time it wasn’t and Sooyoung burned in excitement as she let her hand stroke the heat of a wife of a man in sales. He had made a derogatory comment. One he didn’t think anyone else would overhear while he and some of his buddies were returning from a smoke break on the patio behind the company building. But someone heard it and Sooyoung was part of the gossip train that relayed it in whispers amongst the few women who went out to lunch together every so often until another bout of office drama split their group up.   
  
The third time was a test. A test to see if Sooyoung was some sort of sadist or maybe a sociopath? Or something. Because her lack of empathy when she bed the mousy wife of an IT jerk who kept mansplaining a computer error was alarming. She enjoyed it. Maybe too much. She enjoyed how the woman who wore long skirts and long-sleeved blouses that did nothing for her physique melted beneath her touch. The way she moaned when Sooyoung bit into her lip then squeaked as if she had done something wrong. The way she forgot to be embarrassed when Sooyoung spread her open and ate her up on their expensive, leather sofa in front of wedding photos and family portraits propped on the mantel, staring at them. Watching them.   
  
God, it felt so good. And good things couldn’t easily be stopped.   
  
So when they were having a company year-end banquet, Sooyoung’s eyes surveyed the crowd like a wolf hunting for its prey. She sipped her champagne, discreetly taking in every lovely lady in a formal dress with veiled interest. Who would it be this time? The intern’s girlfriend? She was a pretty sight. Young, trendy, long hair and toned arms in a little black dress. She would be easy but she wouldn’t be satisfying. Girlfriends were fleeting things. The commitment wasn’t strong enough so neither would the rush be.   
  
Or maybe the fiancé of the man in marketing who had a stick up his ass and liked to stare at asses even more. That could be a delicious endeavor. Sooyoung could kiss the rock on her finger while she placed her own deep into the diamond’s cave, making her whimper her name as if she was saying her vows. It would be a titillating secret. Having her before he did. But still, it was weak.   
  
Then perhaps—  
  
A flash of glossy black hair caught Sooyoung’s attention out of the corner of her eye. She turned just in time to see the locks fall back into place, landing against the expensive material of a lovely, violet dress. For a second, Sooyoung was enamored by the artistry of the ensemble. The dress contoured to the woman beautifully. Not too tight and not too loose. And the color, though deep, didn’t wash out her fair skin. She accessorized well. Designer heels and pops of jewelry. It was all very put together. Just like the man she was standing beside. Tall, handsome, well-off, Sooyoung’s boss.   
  
A devilish grin spread across Sooyoung’s mouth.  _She_ would be worth it. All those long hours she was subjected to, the overworking, the blatant disregard of respect, the way he flirted and flitted about the office knowing no one could touch him. He was the co-founder of the company after all. He was virtually untouchable. He knew no one would speak against him no matter what he did. And if anyone tried, they could easily be removed. Or blackmailed. Or threatened with lawyers and lawsuits.   
  
But he could be touched.   
  
Sooyoung shuddered in excitement. Oh, it was dangerous. It was risky. It was insane. And that’s exactly why she had to do it.   
  
The night proceeded as intended. Dinner, presentations, awards, dessert, and more talks. Sooyoung only half paid attention. Her focus was elsewhere, drawn to the gorgeous woman in purple. She made sure to catch her eye when she could, smiling at her, sending eyes at her, putting herself into the eye line of her boss so he had no choice but to introduce her— _"Sooyoung is one of my best assistance”_ —which opened up the opportunity for Sooyoung to offer the wife a drink which she was too modest to decline.   
  
She learned a couple things. The wife’s name was Joohyun.  _Nice_. They had been together for seven years, eight next spring.  _Even better._  She was the inspiration behind his best ideas.  _Interesting._ She didn’t sip her drinks, she gulped them in large swallows.  _Very telling._ She didn’t laugh with her eyes. She stayed one foot behind him at all times. She flexed her jaw every time Sooyoung look at her.   
  
So Sooyoung kept looking at her, peering across the crowd to the table where all the higher-ups in the company sat. Joohyun turned around as if she could feel the stares and their eyes locked. The adrenaline made her bold and Sooyoung winked causing the muscles in the woman’s neck to tighten. She turned around with a flip of the hair and gave the occasional concealed glance in Sooyoung’s directions after that.   
  
 _Hook, line, and sinker._  
  
Applause erupted as the last speaker ended their talk and people got up. Sooyoung watched as Joohyun rose from her seat, whisper something to her husband, then slip off toward the exit. Sooyoung followed. She reached the exit just in time to see Joohyun disappear into the hallway toward the restrooms. She put a few seconds between them before she entered herself.   
  
The second stall on the left was occupied. It must be her. The sound of other voices drew closer and Sooyoung slipped into a stall where she waited until most of the chatter subsided and walked out. Going to the mirror, she busied herself with fixing her hair, occasionally making small talk with a few of the other ladies who shared complaints and compliments and false pleasantries. All the while, the second stall remained closed.   
  
It wasn’t until the last person filed out that the door opened. Sooyoung pretended not to notice, leaning forward into the mirror to check her lipstick. It was perfect. Everything was going perfect.   
  
“What are you doing?”  
  
Sooyoung shifted her eyes in the mirror to meet Joohyun’s but she wasn’t looking at her. She was busy with the water, scrubbing her hands under the faucet. Soap lathered in her palms, the suds rolling down the sides of her hands over her knuckles and into the basin.   
  
“Pardon me?”  
  
“Don’t play dumb. It’s not cute,” Joohyun quipped.   
  
Sooyoung’s eyebrows lifted. She wasn’t expecting that. She took a second to take Joohyun in, assessing the situation. Did she come on too strong? Did she offend her? Did she read her wrong? She realized then that Joohyun wasn’t like all of the other victims. The other men were nobodies. Just other faces in the company, easily forgettable or replaceable. But Joohyun...Joohyun was like playing with fire.  
  
She knew she should tread lightly but lightly was never her style. “What did it look like?”  
  
Joohyun looked up then, her gaze going from herself to Sooyoung for only a second before she pulled away to dry her hands. The sound of the dryer was loud and grating but Joohyun insisted in having the air blow every bead of moisture from her hands before she moved them away. Crossing back to the mirror, she examined her makeup. “If you’re trying to seduce my husband, don’t.”  
  
Sooyoung blinked. Then she snorted. She saw the vile noise cause tension in Joohyun’s shoulders. “Your husband?”   
  
“You see him every day, don't you?” said Joohyun sounding more bored than upset. Interesting. “You have a lot of nerve trying that in my face.” She scoffed. “Even buying me a drink?”  
  
Sooyoung couldn’t help but laugh. She knew she shouldn’t. Joohyun obviously wasn’t finding this amusing. Not that she could read how it was making Joohyun feel. Sooyoung was sure she was ten seconds away from a bitch slap but it was fun. How did her signals go this terribly misread?   
  
“That drink  _was_  for you,” she said.   
  
Joohyun turned to her fully, squaring her shoulders in Sooyoung’s direction. She was so petite. Even in heels she barely reached Sooyoung’s eye line. It didn’t matter. Joohyun held herself like someone two meters tall and the set in her jaw made Sooyoung picture fangs behind her pretty, perfect, pink lips. She had all the lethal prowess of a cobra and for a moment Sooyoung’s steely confidence melted.   
  
“Wow, okay. Honestly, it’s not your husband I’m interested in.” She expected to see the light bulb go off, the switch to click, the realization to dawn but it didn’t come. Joohyun simply looked at her. And was that a smirk? Or maybe it was a trick of the dim, restroom lighting.   
  
“What do you want?”  
  
The crack in Sooyoung’s confidence began to seal back up. Maybe she hadn’t lost yet. “Isn’t it obvious?”  
  
“I mean, what do you want in exchange?” she clarified and Sooyoung had to admit she wasn’t expecting that either. “You can’t just want to sleep with me because I’m pretty.” A confident, proud woman. Sooyoung liked that. “What’s in it for you? Do you want to record it? Use it for blackmail? Is it a dare one of your office friends put you to? Do you want money?”  
  
“A raise would be nice but no. None of that.”  
  
“Then what?” Arms crossed neatly over her chest, chin tilted up to stare Sooyoung right in the eyes.  
  
The power of her stare was disarming. It flustered Sooyoung, dismantling the seams of her confidence she had just started to repair. Maybe she made a mistake going after her boss’s wife. What did they say? Behind every strong man was an even powerful woman? When she laid eyes on Joohyun in the banquet hall, she saw her as an easy target. She seemed prim and proper. Demure. Soft-spoken. Easy to sway. Easy to conquer. She was wrong.  
  
But she couldn’t show her alarm. She couldn’t let her insecurities show. Not now that she had made it this far. Joohyun still hadn’t dismissed her or cursed her or threatened to report back to her husband about the snake he bragged about earlier. And she hadn’t slapped her yet. That was nice though Sooyoung wouldn’t mind being slapped by someone like Joohyun. She would probably thank her.   
  
“To say I did it,” she said.   
  
Joohyun guffawed, calling her bluff. “Tell me all of it.”  
  
“And I can laugh about it every time I see his stupid face.”  
  
“Power,” said Joohyun.   
  
Sooyoung shrugged, feigning indifference though her heart was pounding. “Can you blame a girl in my position? I need my job so throwing a tantrum won’t do and I can’t threaten him or I’ll face a lawsuit that will leave me poorer than I was eating cup noodles in college. I need a different approach. One that reduces stress in multiple categories.” She winked.   
  
Joohyun’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve done this before.”  
  
“Does that turn you off?” Sooyoung grinned.   
  
Joohyun laughed then cut it short as if she was surprised she had done it. She cleared her throat. “Will his humiliation really make you feel better?”  
  
Goosebumps erupted on her skin. Humiliation. That was it. That’s what she liked. “More than.”  
  
Joohyun nodded. She was quiet for another second, taking the lull to give herself another once over in the mirror. “We came in separate cars,” she finally said. “I heard rumors of an after party. He’ll be going. I won’t.”   
  
Sooyoung wanted to shout in elation. She choked it down and hoped the buzzing she felt all over her skin wasn’t showing. She couldn’t believe this. She really couldn’t believe this was going to happen. “I can meet you by the fountain.”  
  
It was there again. The smirk. Sooyoung was sure of it.   
  
And she was sure that this conquest would be the best one yet.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Joohyun was nothing she expected.   
  
Sooyoung was nervous to touch her. She hadn’t been nervous like this since the first conquest she took to bed but Joohyun brought it back out. Maybe it was because Joohyun knew Sooyoung’s motives. She knew what her desires were and she knew how hungry Sooyoung was for it. It made her incredibly vulnerable for some reason. Her tricks of manipulation only worked on those none-the-wiser. She basically put herself into Joohyun’s hands knowing full well the backlash she could encounter.  
  
What if Joohyun was the one recording? What if she wanted the blackmail? What if she would cry wolf to her boss and ruin Sooyoung’s career as some sort of act of love and devotion to the man she was married to? Tell him,  _“She came onto me! I had no choice! I was threatened!”_  
  
The thought turned Sooyoung cold, stirring her gut up into knots.  
  
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Joohyun quirked an eyebrow at her sudden stillness.   
  
Sooyoung looked up at the woman standing between her knees from where she sat on the edge of a hotel bed. The room that Joohyun booked was a chic little suite. Just the sort she expected someone as classy as Joohyun to choose. Sooyoung liked that. She felt like she was getting a tiny taste of the rich, glamorous life her boss had that he held over them, flashing it like some shitty personality trait while the rest of them struggled to make rent.   
  
Sooyoung rolled her eyes, tossing away those fears. Of course, she wanted this.   
  
She answered Joohyun with a kiss and took her by the wrist, guiding her down onto the bed and climbed on top. Joohyun’s shoulders pressed into the blankets, her raven hair thrown around her. She was still in her bra and panties, a lovely set of black lace that Sooyoung admired as she brought her lips down to take in a nipple through the fabric. She sucked it into her mouth, dampening the cloth.   
  
“Don’t be so gentle,” Joohyun breathed.   
  
So Sooyoung wasn’t. She let her teeth bite into the skin just enough to feel the resistance. Joohyun hissed. Hands wrapped around her head, fingers combing deep into her hair where nails pricked at her scalp. Sooyoung continued her play around the pointed tip, sucking a little harder when Joohyun tugged on her and bit down when Joohyun’s nails let up in her skin.   
  
Her world spun as the tables were turned. Legs straddled over her thigh and Joohyun pressed down, grinding herself against the thick of her leg. Sooyoung held her hips, guiding each rock she swirled into her and she couldn’t help but be a little awestruck with the flushed face in front of her. Pink lips parted, heavy lids, wisps of black hair stringed across her face that Joohyun raised a hand to comb backward.   
  
Onyx eyes found hers. Sooyoung couldn’t say that the lip bite Joohyun gave was shy. It wasn’t. Nothing about Joohyun was shy and Sooyoung found herself thrown again by the woman she decided to pick.   
  
“Focus, Sooyoung.”   
  
Hands pushed at her shoulders, pressing her down deeper. And that’s when she realized what Joohyun meant by not being gentle. She didn’t hurt her but she wasn’t soft. She sank her fingers into Sooyoung without a second thought, oozing wetness out of her so that it ran into the creases of her hand.   
  
Sooyoung gripped her shoulders, hips canting upward on each stroke. She couldn’t remember any of the other conquests returning the favor like this. They were always so bashful and hesitant. Unsure of where to put their hands and their mouths. But Joohyun knew what she was doing. She knew the right way to touch a woman. How to be rough but still be kind. How to tease but how to also cater. She didn’t have regret in her eyes like the others. There was no shame. Only pleasure. And hunger. And power.   
  
That power made Sooyoung’s center burn and the pleasure burst in her stomach that rippled through her in waves and waves, milked on by the consistent stroke of Joohyun’s fingers until her bones were jelly and she couldn’t take anymore.   
  
She thought she didn’t really understand Joohyun. She thought the woman was on a different plane than her. Better. Higher. But maybe they weren’t so different after all.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
When Sooyoung woke up in the morning, she was alone.   
  
Sitting up, she let her eyes sweep the hotel room. All of Joohyun’s belongings were gone. She didn’t expect the woman to be there in the morning but Sooyoung sort of wished she could’ve said goodbye and maybe thank you? That was weird. She never thanked the others. She doubted they wanted to hear it when they left with their heads down and tails tucked between their legs as if they had just committed an unforgivable sin. Sooyoung would never feel shame for a solid night of passion.   
  
On her feet, Sooyoung stretched and shivered when the blow of the AC touched her skin. Grabbing a robe, she pulled it on then made her way over to the counter where there was a coffee pot and complimentary coffee bags when she saw a folded piece of paper. Picking it up, she undid the crease.   
  
 _How was that for a power trip?_  
 _—J_  
  
Sooyoung grinned.   
  
All the other times she had done it alone. Just her in on her devious little plan. Knowing that Joohyun was just as much a part of it as her did something in her. A double fuck you.   
  
Forgetting about the cheap coffee, she left the hotel and splurged on a proper breakfast.   
  
She just felt that damn good.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She thought that would be the last of Joohyun. The deed was done. The satisfaction met. When she saw her boss, she was reminded of the bruising kisses and the rough fingers and the sweet orgasms she shared with Joohyun until they slumped into the blankets.   
  
She wasn’t usually so crass but she couldn’t help wondering if the couple had sex like that. Was it that chaotic? That fiery? That passionate? She couldn’t say that what she and Joohyun shared was intimate by any means but it was hot. Smoldering. Sexy. Like they were both chasing something. The same something. Like they needed it more than breath. More than the bonds of a marriage contract or a consistent paycheck.   
  
She was in the middle of wondering if Joohyun moaned liked that for him when she was stunned by the sight of her. In the flesh.   
  
“Oh, sorry.” Sooyoung faltered in her boss’s doorway, a file folder he requested from her in her hands.   
  
He looked up at her at the same time Joohyun did from her place in one of the leather hardback chairs in front of his desk. Sooyoung had to admit that Joohyun was good. Better than her. Because she didn’t even flinch at seeing Sooyoung. She just offered a polite smile and a,  
  
“Hello, again. Sooyoung, was it?”  
  
She nodded. “Pleasure to see you again, Mrs. Bae. I’m sorry to interrupt.”  
  
“Come back after lunch,” said her boss.   
  
Sooyoung walked away and returned to her desk. Where she sat gave her a good view of her boss’s office. The frosted glass hid hem away but Sooyoung could make out shadows. There was nothing exciting happening and Sooyoung was ready to leave them to whatever they were discussing when the door opened.  
  
Her boss took the lead while Joohyun followed on his heels, purse slung over her shoulder. Her eyes briefly found Sooyoung’s but flickered away as if she was just another fixture in the office. Turning the corner, Sooyoung watched her back begin to fade down the hall when something dropped onto the floor behind her.  
  
“Mrs. Bae,” said Sooyoung, rounding her desk. She hurried to retrieve the partially crumpled piece of paper. “Wait, you—“ She cut herself off when she realized it was a piece of trash but then her thumbs dislodged one of the creases and she saw ink scrawled on the page.  
  
“Pardon?” Joohyun questioned.  
  
Sooyoung pushed on a smile. “No, never mind. Sorry. Have a good lunch!”  
  
Her boss threw her a tight-lipped smile and guided Joohyun away with a hand on her shoulder.   
  
Returning to her desk, Sooyoung undid the paper in her lap. A smile pulled at her lips as her eyes traced over every digit of a phone number.   
  
Slick, she thought. So, very, very slick.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It was three days until Sooyoung finally called to which Joohyun berated her with a,   
  
“It took you long enough.”  
  
She was given the address of another hotel and waltz in, bypassing the front desk like she had already been staying there. On the third floor, she found room 308 and knocked twice. Joohyun was quick to open the door and promptly pushed her against it once she had her inside with a smothering kiss.   
  
Sooyoung’s brain scattered, her internal processor slow to catch up with what was happening. She should’ve known Joohyun was the type of person to pull a stunt like this but Sooyoung was still rattled. How was she so good at this? And how was she so good at compartmentalizing her affair? All the others would shyly let Sooyoung in, kiss her like her lips were poison, and hardly look at her when she walked out of the door. And she only had them once. Take two with Joohyun and Sooyoung expected her to preface it with a,   
  
 _”He’d kill me if he found out.”  
  
”I can’t believe I’m doing this again.”  
  
”I’m shaking I can’t believe I’m having an affair!”_  
  
But she didn’t and Sooyoung was shocked into attention when teeth pricked into her bottom lip, pulling at it before letting it go so it snapped backed with a wet slap against her teeth. Sooyoung looked down, following the swipe of Joohyun’s tongue across her lip. She finally felt the hands against her stomach, sliding up beneath her shirt to where they cupped over her chest.  
  
“Are you sure you’ve done this before?” Joohyun inquired sounding more like a tease.  
  
Sooyoung’s pride snorted. Of course, she had. Joohyun was just making her a little stupid and maybe a tad bit self-conscious and possibly somewhat of a puddle. “You caught me by surprise.”  
  
“Mmm,” Joohyun hummed. She kissed Sooyoung hard and deep before guiding her toward the bed.   
  
There was an impatience to her as she took off her clothes, the layers falling off her like sugar in water. Sooyoung barely got her blouse off when hands were pushing at her, leading her down onto the bed with her back in the mattress like last time. But this time Joohyun gave her no kisses as she straddled her waist. She took Sooyoung’s hand, kissed her fingers, then brought them between her legs, fingers poised at her entrance.  
  
Her fingertips instantly met dampness. No. Damp was an understatement. Joohyun was deliciously wet and it was nothing for her to take in the two digits, shuddering out a sigh as they filled her up. Sooyoung’s mouth parted in awe as she watched Joohyun roll her hips, finding the best angle to grind so that her clit rubbed just right against the heel of her palm.   
  
Sooyoung wondered what had wound her up. Was it the anticipation that had already ignited her? Was it the stress of work and she was eager and ready for a release? Whatever it was, Sooyoung would take it. She would let Joohyun take her. So many times it was Sooyoung having to take the lead, encourage her conquests along, guide them to what felt best and what she wanted.   
  
She was fine with letting Joohyun holding the reins. She was fine with watching. Joohyun was mesmerizingly hot to watch. The muscles in her stomach tightened and loosened as she rocked and the way she pushed her hair back with two hands and let them dangle at her sides while her body did the work was an image straight out of a raunchy porno.  
  
Bringing up her free hand, Sooyoung cupped Joohyun’s chest, kneading the flesh in her palm then pinched her fingers at her nipple. Joohyun let out a sound between a groan and a hiss, head falling back so her neck stretched long and tight. Sooyoung wanted to bite into it, leave little nips and marks. How amazing would that be? To send Joohyun back home with the traces of another mouth all over her? God, she wished.   
  
“Sooyoung,” Joohyun breathed out. She fell forward, her hands gripping the sides of Sooyoung’s ribs, almost bruising in their force. Her hair fell around her face, beautifully mused and her lips parted, gasping out another moan when she ground hard into Sooyoung’s palm. “Can I—” Her lids dropped again when Sooyoung twisted her nipple earning a particular deep roll of the hips that made Joohyun gasp. “Can I sit there?”  
  
Her eyes opened back up to flicker to Sooyoung’s face. The electricity of what she was asking jolted so hard into Sooyoung’s stomach it caused her own hips to rise up, meeting Joohyun’s downward stroke. She almost wanted to keep at what they were doing. The look on Joohyun’s face said she was close and there was something about watching their hips work in tandem like this with Joohyun dripping down her palm that she loved.  
  
But she knew she would love what Joohyun wanted just as much.   
  
Sooyoung nodded and Joohyun lifted. The cold air that touched her wet fingers as Joohyun drew off was stark and she shivered as thighs enveloped her ears. Swollen wetness presented itself to her and Sooyoung looked up, meeting Joohyun’s gaze as she lowered down, clit grazing Sooyoung’s nose as she adjusted herself then brought herself to her awaiting mouth.   
  
Sooyoung met her with the drag of her tongue making Joohyun’s thighs quiver. Her mouth coated in wetness, lips slick from the well that Joohyun supplied. She ate her up with teasing flicks and long strokes, savoring the warmth and the silk and the flavor as she dipped into her entrance.   
  
“Sooyoung...” Joohyun moaned. Her tone was desperate. Needy. “Sooyoung,” she repeated again, harder this time. Her fist balled into Sooyoung’s hair and hips jerked, their rhythm gone sideways as she approached her end. Sooyoung shaped her lips around her clit. “Soo—”  
  
She sucked and pinched her lips. And Joohyun was done. Her grip tightened, pulling hard at Sooyoung’s hair as she came. Her thighs shivered and her groans came out in little, spats of breath that she delivered to the ceiling, mouth open and head thrown back.   
  
Joohyun dropped onto the mattress beside her, catching her breath. Sooyoung wanted to roll over and kiss her neck, smear the mess on her face onto her. She wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand instead, eyes watching Joohyun as she slowly came down until her eyes opened and her head lolled to look back at her. She was smiling. Not a smirk but a soft grin.   
  
“Sorry for attacking you,” she said. “I might’ve been a little on edge.”  
  
Sooyoung didn’t mind. “Glad I could help.”   
  
Seconds ticked by and Sooyoung almost thought she forgot about her when a hand reached for her. Sooyoung followed the guiding pull until she was over Joohyun, her elbows propped on either side of her head to keep her up.   
  
“Can you keep your eyes open?”  
  
“Yeah,” said Sooyoung but she spoke too soon. The way Joohyun sank her fingers into her made her lids want to shut in pleasure.  
  
She thrust her hips in time with Joohyun’s strokes. Teeth nibbled her bottom lip then mellowed out into a kiss. Joohyun had sweet kisses despite everything else. Like sugar. Slow and languid and soft.   
  
Fingers smoothed against the side of her face, brushing back hair behind her ear. The gesture was oddly intimate considering what and who they were to each other but it still did something to Sooyoung. Joohyun’s gentle touch was like little tiny points of electricity that slithered through her veins and set of sparks in the base of her stomach.   
  
She liked an aggressive Joohyun but there was something just as sensual if not better than the soft one that had come after she got whatever it was earlier out of her system.   
  
“You’re dripping down my fingers,” she said softly. Her eyes were so sharp and focused as they stared back at Sooyoung. Below, her hips canted upward, intensifying with Sooyoung’s strokes that were steadily losing rhythm. “Are you close?”  
  
Sooyoung nodded. She knew Joohyun could feel it. The tightening.   
  
Joohyun bit her lip then took Sooyoung’s again. A tongue swiped at her mouth and she opened up to let it slink in. The heat of it clashed with Sooyoung’s own, turning everything scorching. From mouth to head to stomach to toes. Her arms burned from holding herself up and the tension wires coiling inside of her were reaching their limit.   
  
“Joohyun,” she whined into another sweet kiss.   
  
“Look at me,” Joohyun reminded her. She didn’t even realize they closed.   
  
Sooyoung let her eyes flutter back open. They were slow to focus on Joohyun but when they did, she pulled her fingers from inside of her.  
  
“Ah—“ Sooyoung squeaked, the words of a complaint not breaching her lips when fingers split around her clit and squeezed. Sooyoung all but yelped as the tide rushed in, wiping her out.   
  
Her arms buckled and she dropped down, meeting Joohyun’s heat with hers. Face falling into her neck, she took in gulps to catch her breath. She was buzzing all over and she administered her thanks in soft kisses against the side of Joohyun’s neck that stretched out for her to have her fill. Joohyun’s skin was creamy against her lips and silky under her tongue.   
  
“Careful,” said Joohyun. She gave a small tug to lead Sooyoung away from the danger zone of her neck and brought her back around so she settled onto the bed on her side. They faced each other. Joohyun folded one arm beneath her head while the other balled a fist beneath her chin. Like she was trying to keep herself from touching Sooyoung anymore. “That was a lot more intense than I than I planned.”  
  
“You plan these visits?”  
  
“I plan on not biting into the forbidden fruit more than once.”  
  
Sooyoung grinned. “Maybe it just tastes that good.”  
  
“I wouldn’t know.”  
  
“Not yet.”  
  
The hand under Joohyun’s chin uncurled and she hooked fingers around the back of Sooyoung’s neck, pulling her into a kiss. Sooyoung returned it with as much energy, bringing her body in so it molded against Joohyun’s front and her legs split so that a knee could slot between her thighs. She rocked against it, eliciting a pleasurable moan from Joohyun’s throat.  
  
Pulling back, Joohyun looked up at her with dark eyes, the curve of a shy smirk on her mouth. “Let’s find out.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
For some reason, a milkshake was necessary afterward. Joohyun insisted. Apparently, she was on a strict diet plan that her husband thought would be beneficial for her. In other words, he didn’t want a fat woman for a wife and the only moments she was allowed to indulge were in secret and purchased with cash in case he decided to take a peek at her account. Sooyoung offered to buy this time.   
  
The more Sooyoung heard about the man her boss was outside of the office the less she liked him. He was just as controlling at home as he was at work. It was disgusting.   
  
“What’s in it for you?” asked Sooyoung. She stirred her chocolate shake with the straw, mixing the whipped cream into the mocha so it streaked in swirling patterns.   
  
“Hm?”  
  
“You know why I’m doing this but why are you? Why didn’t you turn me down?”  
  
Joohyun stared at her in silence for a moment before speaking. “I’m going to tell you the truth but you can’t laugh.”  
  
Sooyoung furrowed her brow. “Okay?”  
  
“It’s been almost eight years and I can count on two hands how many times he has actually... _pleased_ me.”  
  
“That’s not funny that’s sad,” Sooyoung admonished. “How do you live like that?”  
  
“I don’t.” She placed the back of her hand against her forehead as if thinking it was making her feverish with need. “You can only do so many things on your own. I even tried escorts—women only—but I never felt right about it.”  
  
Sooyoung sipped her milkshake. That explained why she knew what she was doing and didn’t stare at Sooyoung like a deer in headlights when she first took off her underwear. She started to see Joohyun a little differently. Perhaps it was about power just the same but there was more to it. Depravity. Betrayal. Longing. Need. She was a ticking time bomb of sexual tension and Sooyoung was the match that came in to set her off.  
  
“That explains it,” she said.  
  
“It?”  
  
“Why you’re so aggressive. I would be too if I only had ten orgasms in eight years.”  
  
Joohyun laughed, head ducking bashfully. She had started to let her softer sides peek through. Sooyoung liked it. She liked that Joohyun was getting comfortable with her. Probably because she realized Sooyoung meant what she said—that she wasn’t trying to ruin her husband’s career only mess with him a little. And Sooyoung knew Joohyun was on her side just the same.   
  
“That’s part of it, but like you, power is addictive.”  
  
“You could do something else. Be one of those dominatrix’s or whatever they’re called.”  
  
Joohyun shook her head, her laugh more of a cackle this time that she hid behind her hand. “Remember who you’re talking to. Who I’m married to.”  
  
Sooyoung remembered. Joohyun had an image and a status to uphold. Something like that was extreme. And why go that far when she could divulge in the occasional affair? “Then this isn’t your first time either.”  
  
“Generally, no, but with someone so closely connected to either me or my husband, yes.” She sat back, aimlessly playing with her straw, bouncing it up and down in the green of her mint chocolate chip shake. Gross flavor. Joohyun really was a different breed. “I haven’t seen anyone in a very long time. I had a scare after the last escort and I was too afraid to go back. I’ve been suffering for months.” She winced. “Then you came along.”  
  
Sooyoung hummed in understanding. Joohyun was being honest so she could be too. “I thought you were going to tell him about me.”  
  
“I saw what you were doing.” Joohyun shrugged. “I had to make sure I was reading you right. Women usually go for him, not me.”  
  
Sooyoung snorted. Her boss was attractive but he wasn’t everything. “When I saw you, I couldn’t resist.”  
  
“Careful, Sooyoung.” Joohyun bit her lip. “You almost sound like you fell for me.”  
  
Sooyoung threw the straw wrapper at her. Joohyun’s face went to stone and she rushed to apologize when the woman started laughing and threw it back.   
  
“I should get back home,” said Joohyun. “I’ll call you?”  
  
Sooyoung grinned. “Don’t keep me waiting.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The information Joohyun shared furthered Sooyoung’s pride.   
  
It was hilarious knowing the man who bossed everyone around couldn’t even please the woman he loved. How sad. How devastating. She wished she could tell someone. She wished she could spread it through the office, make it so that every man and woman in the company knew what sort of failure in the sack he was. She wanted to make it so everyone else could laugh at him, mock him, degrade him.   
  
But then what was the fun in that? There was a sinister stir of pride from the fact that only she knew. While everyone else went about, gloating about him or sharing the same old boring rumors, she knew the truth.   
  
And that felt good.   
  
When she saw him, she no longer saw herself beneath him. She could almost see herself looking at him eye-to-eye, standing on an ever-growing platform fed by the secrets given to her by Joohyun.   
  
“What’s so funny?”  
  
Sooyoung looked down to see her best friend standing in front of her, two drinks in hand. Sooyoung took her mocha and lead them out of the little coffee shop. They didn’t always get to meet up to grab a coffee in the mornings before work, but it was always nice when they could and unhinge about their respective places of employment before going in.   
  
“Nothing really.” She sipped her drink. Chocolate and espresso erupted on her tongue.   
  
“When are you free?” asked Yerim. They idled at a stop light, waiting for the signal that they could walk across. It was warm out today and Sooyoung squinted, wishing she had her sunglasses. “I’m trying to get everyone together for an overdue bar night. We need a detox.”  
  
Sooyoung could agree with that. “Next weekend?” she said just as her phone vibrated. Thumbing at the screen, she grinned when she saw the codename she saved Joohyun under and opened the text.   
  
 _—Tonight?_  
  
That’s all it said but that one word held so much.   
  
“Sooyoung.”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
“I asked what time,” said Yerim.   
  
The signal changed and Sooyoung fell into step with the crowd as they all began to cross. “After—” she started but her concentration was pulled to the text she was trying to type out.  
  
“After?”  
  
“—seven,” Sooyoung finished. She stepped up onto the curb, her heel almost catching on the pavement. Yerim caught her by the elbow, righting her back up before she could stumble and fall. “Thanks.”   
  
Yerim rolled her eyes. “Who’s that? Someone new?”  
  
“Just a good one-off.” She shrugged and hit send on an,   
  
 **—I’m free.**  
  
“I thought they were called one-offs for a reason.”  
  
“So maybe it was two. Or three.” Sooyoung made a face at Yerim’s side-eye. “What? We had a connection.”  
  
Yerim snorted. “I bet.”  
  
Sooyoung hit her playfully in the arm.  
  
 _—Good._  
  
Sooyoung’s thumbs hovered over the keyboard. She wanted to say something back. Something flirty or witty.   
  
“Are you okay with I invite you-know-who?” asked Yerim but Sooyoung didn’t hear her.   
  
She was busy typing and deleting and retyping a reply. Ugh. Why was she acting this way? She was the queen of innuendos and suggestive lines. Why did her higher brain functions seem to short-circuit when it came to Joohyun? It was frustrating but she didn’t know if she could complain. Not when Joohyun made all her systems override with the fine work of her fingers.   
  
“Did you hear me?”  
  
“Yeah, sure,” she said, waving a dismissive hand. Ah! She knew what she wanted to say.   
  
 **—Am I your good girl?**  
  
“If you say so,” said Yerim.   
  
Sooyoung was only half listening as they stopped near the bus stop where they would go separate ways. Typing bubbles popped up then went away. They came up again resulting in only a smiley face emoji. Sooyoung’s eyes jumped up to the clock at the top of her screen.   
  
“Crap, I’m going to be late,” she said.   
  
“I tried warning you.”  
  
Stepping up she raised a hand to hail a cab. “Text me about when you want to get together,” she said when one slowed to a stop.   
  
“Keep that weekend open.” Yerim waved her off.   
  
Pulling away, Sooyoung hurried into a cab.   
  
She couldn’t wait for the day to end.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
“You look happy today,” said Joohyun. She was sitting on the bed, leaned back on her hands in a white button down and a pair of slacks with heels. Her hair was pulled up, showing off the long column of her neck and every little tendon and muscle and vein.   
  
Sooyoung was wrong to call Joohyun pretty when she first saw her. Even beautiful was weak. Joohyun was fucking gorgeous. She was so busy ogling that she almost forgot what Joohyun said.   
  
“Your husband spilled coffee on his pants,” she said. It was an accident caused by one of the interns who ran into him in the hall. They apologize profusely while he berated them for being a complete and utter idiot. Sooyoung felt bad for the poor, college kid but she was delighted at the sight of dirty brown splashed across the crotch of her boss’s gray pants and down his leg. He looked like a giant baby, just wet himself, throwing a tantrum over something that could easily be washed out.  
  
It only took thirty minutes for him to have on a replacement pair and a replacement coffee. All that fuss for nothing. The man had a temper. Sooyoung wondered if Joohyun had to deal with that temper.  
  
“Most people I know feed off their own humiliation, not others,” said Joohyun.   
  
Sooyoung scrunched her nose as she hung her purse away, simultaneously slipping off her heels. It felt good to finally be out of them. “It’s different when it’s him.”  
  
“Are you sure?” Her lips curled at the edges and her eyebrows lifted.   
  
Sooyoung thought about it as she let her hair down from the clip she had it in. She hadn’t really stopped to think on it much past the surface level. Her fun-o-meter was all she really cared about along with the tallies and the indulgence she partook in. If she really analyzed it, she could see that it was different with him. Him and all of the other suits she was targeting. But what if it came down to her?  
  
“What do you like?” She leaned back against the wall, arms crossed over her chest.  
  
Joohyun rolled her head along her shoulders in thought. “I don’t know.”  
  
“I call bullshit.”  
  
She laughed and shook her head. “Given my marriage, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to explore my own wants.”  
  
“Not even with…”  
  
“The escorts?” Joohyun filled in the word Sooyoung didn’t want to say. She felt weird saying it out loud for some reason. “As much as I could’ve let my imagination run wild, it wasn’t about that. I had a need that needed to be met and I didn’t spend more time with them than necessary.”   
  
“But you have thought about it haven’t you?”  
  
“About?”  
  
“How it would be if you had complete control? If you weren’t the one being left turned on but were the one doing the leaving?” Every time they met so far, Joohyun already exhibited it. She maneuvered their encounters, always knowing what and how she wanted something and gave back to Sooyoung with just as much fervor.   
  
The lip Joohyun was biting slid out from between her teeth as she offered an uncharacteristically shy smirk. “What haven’t I?”  
  
“Then let’s see,” said Sooyoung. Undoing the buttons of her blouse, she shrugged it off then tugged her skirt down her legs. She could feel Joohyun watching her as she did it, drinking in the newly exposed canvas of skin that she ran her hands all over before. “Use me.”  
  
Joohyun’s head straightened out of its tilt, a new spark of interest igniting in her eyes. “Hm?”  
  
“Use me. Make me feel like he makes me.”  
  
Joohyun narrowed her eyes, her voice dipping to a sultry husk. “Are you sure?”  
  
Sooyoung’s skin prickled with goosebumps. She would blame the draft but she knew it was Joohyun. The curiosity of what she would do. What more she could do. How she would do it. Sooyoung could only nod in return knowing if she spoke her voice would already be thin and she hadn’t even been touched yet.   
  
Joohyun laughed to herself, head dropping as she did it. When she looked back up, the heat was there. The authoritative glint was there. The character was easily put on like a pair of earrings.  
  
“Come here,” she instructed.   
  
Sooyoung obeyed and moved toward her. A puff of air was knocked out of her when her stomach came into contact with the bottom of Joohyun’s heel, the pointed end stabbing just below her belly button. Sooyoung looked down, running the length of Joohyun’s leg that had come up to hold her at bay up to the face watching her with amused curiosity.   
  
“Take them off.”  
  
Sooyoung eased one shoe from her foot then the other and placed them neatly away on the floor. Her foot dragged up Sooyoung’s leg then, trailing up her thigh and passed the hill of her pubic bone and up to her sternum. If her legs were any longer Sooyoung was sure she would’ve rested her heel on her shoulder as she told her,  
  
“On your knees.” Sooyoung instantly went down.  
  
The tilt of Sooyoung’s neck followed Joohyun as she stood up. Their eyes never left each other. Even if she didn’t say it, Sooyoung was sure that’s what Joohyun wanted. So she kept their eyes locked, only gathering that Joohyun was undoing the zipper of her slacks by the soft sound it made and that she was wearing her signature pair of lace underwear by the scalloped designs of the waistband she could see in her peripherals. Black as usual.   
  
A hand cupped under her chin and Sooyoung gasped at the coolness of her palm against the warmth of her skin. She had already been heated when she got the summons from Joohyun. Now she could feel the magma in her veins, bubbling under the surface of her skin that was splintering in cracks the longer Joohyun teased her.   
  
As if she could tell, Joohyun smirked. A thumb dragged across Sooyoung’s lips then pressed forward, willing her mouth open for her to ease it into. Sooyoung swirled her tongue around the digit once, tracing the creases of her knuckle and mapping the unique set of prints. Joohyun was silent but Sooyoung didn’t need words to know what it was doing to her. Her lips were parted and there was an ever-increasing flush in her cheeks.   
  
Flattening her tongue against her thumb, Sooyoung sucked. The action drew out the softest breath of a gasp. Pulling her head back, she let some of her finger leave her lips before sucking it back in, turning her head from side to side as she bobbed her mouth on Joohyun’s finger. Above her, she could hear the soft, heavy breaths she was taking in. The rise and fall of her chest more telling.   
  
“God.” Joohyun snatched her hand back, wrenching her finger from Sooyoung’s mouth leaving her lips slippery. “You could at least put that mouth where it’s useful.”  
  
Angling her body, Joohyun lifted her leg to prop her foot onto the edge of the bed. It opened her up completely and Sooyoung’s eyes dipped down to the smooth, inside of her thighs to the concealed temptation just behind a flimsy layer of lace. Sooyoung’s tongue dragged along her messy lips, the memory of having that very treasure in her face coming back to her.  
  
“Don’t just sit there,” said Joohyun. Sooyoung lifted her eyes back to her but she only had a second to catch a glimpse of her when a hand grabbed the back of her head and brought face right between Joohyun’s legs. “Suck me.”  
  
Just those two words burned in her gut and she didn’t hesitate. Darting her tongue out, she probed Joohyun’s clit through her underwear. She wasn’t surprised to find her already so swollen. She wondered if this act did as much to Joohyun as it was unknowingly doing to Sooyoung.   
  
Bringing down her hand, Joohyun moved lace aside, giving Sooyoung full, uninterrupted access to her. Sooyoung licked at her fingers before focusing her attention on the swollen bundle that she lapped into her mouth and sucked. Joohyun moaned, loud and unrestrained. Hips rolled forward, chasing more and Sooyoung lavished her with everything she could give, turning her neck so she could taste more of her, taste her wetness and drag it all over her lips.   
  
“You’d do anything, wouldn’t you? You can’t suck his dick so you settle for his wife?” She pushed Sooyoung away from her causing a line of saliva to run down her chin. She lapped out her tongue to clean it up just as Joohyun demanded for her to get, “On the bed.”  
  
Sooyoung hurried to her feet but Joohyun was impatient. Once she was on the mattress, Joohyun pushed her down onto her back and straddled her hips—the lace underwear she had been wearing gone. Hands gripped around her wrist and pinned them on either side of Sooyoung’s head while she lowered down, pressing her wet core to Sooyoung’s skin. She didn’t know why that felt so good. But it did and Sooyoung couldn’t help but moan when Joohyun canted her hips, rubbing herself against her stomach.  
  
“You like that?” Joohyun taunted. “I shouldn’t be surprised someone who plays dirty likes to get—” Joohyun’s hips jerked as she ground herself against Sooyoung, coating her stomach in her slick—”filthy.”   
  
Sooyoung couldn’t do anything but watch. Watch and feel and soak as Joohyun had her way with her. Painting herself all over her. Milking every moment and pleasure she could from her.   
  
“You know I’m only using you.” Joohyun’s chuckle came out like more of a moan. “Do you think you’re better than him? Do you think you make me feel better than he does?” Letting go of her wrists, Joohyun folded her body over Sooyoung’s, face falling into the space beside her ear where she could hear every breath and ever hitch in breath that she gave. “Or do you wish that I was actually him?” she slithered into her ear. “Do you want him to make you go belly up, drive you into a mattress, fuck you good instead of fucking you over?”  
  
Sooyoung canted upward, hitting Joohyun’s center at the same time she came down. She gasped at the contact.   
  
“Pathetic,” she taunted. “But at least you’re good for something.”   
  
She drew back, the heat of her body leaving Sooyoung causing a chill to go through her. When she looked down, she could see the sheen of wetness on Joohyun’s own hips but it was nothing compared to the mess that was on her stomach or the messy way Joohyun was moving on top of her.   
  
The mess was only made worse when Joohyun came in quiet shudders with only the heavy drawls of breath to tell she was done. Sooyoung was at a loss for words when she climbed off, leaving her there in a puddle of herself and Sooyoung’s own center pulsing and needy and wilting.   
  
Sooyoung was blazing. The heat or Joohyun’s words created more than flames. They produced infernos and she needed them to be dealt with. She needed them to be put out.   
  
“Joohyun.”  
  
“What?”  
  
She nudged her, silently conveying the message.  
  
“Take care of it.”  
  
Sooyoung blanched. “What?”  
  
“Take care of it.”   
  
Sooyoung studied her. Oh. They weren’t done with this game yet.   
  
Sliding her hand down her stomach, she shuddered at the feeling of Joohyun left on her skin. It got on her fingers and added to her own need between her legs. She was wet. So very wet. Just the brush of the tip of her finger against her clit made her hiss. Made her legs twitch. Even if she wanted to drag this out, she knew she couldn’t much longer. She was so highly stimulated a simple swirl against her clit was making her whimper.  
  
“You should see yourself right now,” said Joohyun. “Who knew you could sink any lower than you already were?”  
  
Heat shot through her and Sooyoung speared her fingers down to slip them in, pumping in and out in lazy strokes with her palm bumping against a swollen bundle. Her body moved, hips rocking back and forth as she fingered herself deep, knuckles curled to feel against the velvet warmth inside of herself.   
  
“You can’t have what you really want so you decided to be a whore.”  
  
That shouldn’t have done what it did to her but it and _—”Fuck”—_ Sooyoung was a whimpering mess with her fingers speeding up, frantically chasing after the impending release so close. So, so fucking close.   
  
“That is what you are,” Joohyun whispered, her voice like honey in her ear. “A filthy, little slut.” She chuckled and Sooyoung groaned. Fingers formed around her chin, turning her head so she was met with Joohyun’s face. “You’d cum for anyone, wouldn’t you?”  
  
Sooyoung’s lips parted to speak but she couldn’t. She was breathing too hard and the pressure was building, compressing every bit of her.  
  
“Go ahead, then. Cum for me.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She was surprised to find Joohyun there in the morning. She was dressed, her hair a little wavy from a shower she had taken. The scent of the shampoo and body wash was still in the air.  
  
“Good, you’re up.”  
  
Sooyoung rubbed sleep from her eyes. By the clock, she noted it was early. Just before the sun would breach the horizon. “You’re still here.”  
  
“I wanted to wait,” she said. It caught Sooyoung that the line was cliche, romantic movie dialogue but she doubted it was anything like that if Joohyun was saying it. “I’m running short on time, I thought I would have to leave before you woke up.”  
  
Sooyoung combed her hair out of her face finally getting a good look at her. Joohyun’s eyes were attentive and her hands were lodged in her pockets where she leaned back against the edge of the hotel desk. Something about that stance was sexy to Sooyoung. It had to be the pockets. “Is something wrong?”  
  
“How are you feeling?”  
  
Sooyoung blinked. “I feel fine.”  
  
“I mean about…” she bit her lip. Bashfulness was an odd look on her. “I didn’t take it too far?”  
  
Oh!  _Oh.  
_  
Sooyoung blushed despite herself. When she proposed the game, she didn’t think Joohyun would run with it the way she did. She didn’t expect herself to give in as much as she did. She could still feel where Joohyun had gripped onto her wrists and the ghost of her hips rolling into her over and over and over again.  
  
“No, I liked it.” And she was heating up all over again thinking about it.   
  
“I know your body did but I had to be sure…”  
  
Sooyoung sat up, back rested against the headboard. She took her time, covering herself up, enjoying the way Joohyun’s gaze dipped to take in her bra-clad chest. “How do you feel?” she asked. Color touched at Joohyun’s cheeks. “Did it make you feel good?”  
  
“Yes.” Honest as always.   
  
“You’re different than you look.” Because she didn’t know Joohyun with the soft, controlled, voice made of cotton could deliver words like that. Even more, Sooyoung didn’t know she would enjoy it that much. She wondered if it was just because of the woman they came from other than the words themselves.   
  
“I didn’t know that this was the direction we would go when we started this.”  
  
She felt a flutter of panic in her chest. “Is that bad?”  
  
Joohyun shook her head. “Different. Unexpected.” She quirked an eyebrow. “You have a very intense way of establishing dominance.”  
  
“What do you do?”  
  
“Usually settle with a firm handshake.” She shrugged. Sooyoung laughed and was pleased to see Joohyun offer her a light smile before it slid off. “I don’t know if I want to do that again,” she said. “I liked it but that’s....”  
  
“We don’t have to.”  
  
Nodding, she retrieved one of the keycards from the desk. “I’ll be out of town for a few weeks. I thought I should let you know.”  
  
Sooyoung did her best not to show the frown that threatened her lips at that. “When will you be back?”  
  
“Why? Will you miss me?”  
  
Sooyoung rolled her eyes. She didn’t like what those words implied. Like she was getting attached. This had only been their third run and it was far fetched to think of. Sooyoung knew herself. Knew her boundaries. Her limitations. “I like having fun with you.”  
  
“Fun,” Joohyun repeated. She scoffed to herself and picked up her purse, slinging it over her shoulder. “Affairs aren’t fun.”  
  
“Neither is a loveless marriage.” It was out of her mouth before she could filter it. An apology formed in her throat but pride held it back. Or maybe it was the way Joohyun looked at her.   
  
She didn’t say anything to that. She just looked at her. Staring, her expression unreadable. She was tightly sealed and impenetrable. No flimsy apology would break through those walls.   
  
Then, she left.   
  
Sooyoung deflated, all the tension she hadn’t realized was coiled inside of her unraveling now that she was alone.   
  
Rolling over, she smashed her face into the pillow, ready to berate herself with curses when she caught the scent of Joohyun’s shampoo still in the fibers. She breathed it in and her body thrummed. It knew who the fragrance belonged to and what that belonger did to her. How many weeks was a few weeks? Not like they met each other on a regular schedule but she liked knowing Joohyun was only a phone call or text away.   
  
Wait. Why? It didn’t matter.   
  
Sooyoung pushed the pillow to the side and got out of the bed. Now she really was being pathetic. And she couldn’t have that. No. Nope.   
  
Turning the shower on hot, she washed the traces of Joohyun away.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It was on the fourth day of not hearing from Joohyun that Sooyoung started to realize how pathetic she was being. She knew that Joohyun was gone on a trip with her boss. It was on the schedule though it had evaded Sooyoung until Joohyun’s words made her hyper-aware of anything that concerned the couple.   
  
She was grateful for the night out Yerim planned with the usual crowd. It had been a busy couple of weeks for everyone and they needed a wind-down. Sooyoung needed a wind-down, too, but that kind of wind down was somewhere out of town and unreachable. Not that she couldn’t text Joohyun—she told her it was fine as long as she kept the message short and simple. But she didn’t want to seem needy and if she was with  _him_  then she had no place bothering them.  
  
“I didn’t think this night would come.” Yerim handed her a beer and guided them away from the bar to meet the others at the large, circular booth they claimed.   
  
Sooyoung bid her hellos to the few of them there. They were old friends, others like Yerim left over from university while the others they met much later. Adult life kept them away from each other most days but they had the occasional meet up when they could.   
  
Sooyoung slipped in after Yerim leaving her on the outside. Her eyes scanned the faces when she noticed someone was missing.   
  
“Did you invite—”  
  
“Sorry, I’m late,” pipped a voice, winded and a notch too loud. “Traffic.”  
  
“—Seungwan,” she finished with a tone of dread. Her eyes caught the newcomer as she eased into the other end across from Sooyoung beside one of their guy friends, hand brushing her shoulder-length hair off her shoulder. A new hairdo. It suited her.   
  
“I asked you if it would be okay,” Yerim whispered back before flashing a smile to their friend. “Hey, Seungwan, no problem. We haven’t ordered yet.”  
  
Menus passed around and Sooyoung kept her eyes on the listings, every so often glancing at her phone sitting screen up on the table. She’d been doing that for days now. Checking. Then checking again. At any chime of a notification, she held onto the hope that it was Joohyun and sulked in disappointment when it wasn’t. Considering who she was with, Sooyoung shouldn’t expect to hear anything. Why chance texting the other woman with the risk of being caught?   
  
But would that really stop her?  
  
“Sooyoung.”  
  
Her neck snapped up. Her attention fell on Seungwan who had said her name but all eyes were on her. She was about to ask why when she realized a waiter was standing by the table. She ordered quickly, handed away her menu, and halfheartedly joined the table conversation.   
  
Throughout, she could feel eyes on her. And when she turned, she caught Seungwan’s gaze flickering away at the last moment.  
  
A thought went through her head. She could take Seungwan home. It wouldn’t be too hard. Even if the last time they saw each other ended in terse words and some tears and Sooyoung getting stranded at that nice restaurant Seungwan booked for them. It was her own fault. And what did they say? Make up sex was the best sex?  
  
“I’m going to order us another round,” said Sooyoung getting up. “Seungwan, you want to help me?”  
  
Yerim glanced up at her, eyebrow cocked. Sooyoung ignored it and waited for Seungwan to look up from her own phone screen.   
  
“Why me?”  
  
“You’re closest to the end.” Logic won her over and Seungwan slithered out, following Sooyoung to the bar. Leaning her elbows on the wood grains, she waited for one of the bartenders to have a moment. “Do you think we should get shots?”  
  
“Sure.”  
  
“I think I’ll have another beer. Do you want anything—“ she cut herself off when she looked over to see Seungwan thumbing the screen of her cellphone. It didn’t take a snoop to know she was texting someone. “Who’s that?”  
  
Seungwan looked up and turned off the screen. “Why do you care?”  
  
She immediately went on the defense “What, I can’t care about you anymore?”  
  
“If you cared you wouldn’t have ignored me half the night until now. Or called.”  
  
“I called.”  
  
“Asking for a blouse you left at my place,” she deadpanned.   
  
“Still a phone call.”  
  
Seungwan sighed and pocketed her phone. “I think you can handle this on your own.” She turned to go.   
  
“Seungwan, wait.” Catching her wrist, she brought her back, pulling her in so she stood closer than she had before. Seungwan crossed her arms over her chest and Sooyoung fumbled for words when she received the steel of a glare. Seungwan had a way of bringing her back down to earth. Snapping her out of that holier than facade she liked to wear like her favorite piece of jewelry. It was mostly flash and flare and Seungwan saw right through it. “I’m sorry.”  
  
Her lips parted, taken aback but quickly washed away. “For?”  
  
“Ignoring you. Not calling.”  
  
Seungwan rolled her eyes but the ghost of a smile played on her lips. That was good. Maybe she had a chance of this going in her favor. “You’re still horrible at apologies.”  
  
“Do you accept?” She leaned in a little more, mixing the warmth in the air between them.   
  
Seungwan examined her like she always did, her eyes quick and calculating as they zipped around her face and calculated her body language. “I’ll think about it.”  
  
“If you won’t take my word”—Sooyoung stepped deep into her personal space—”there are other ways I can make it up to you.”  
  
The budding smile she had evaporated. “This is what I was talking about.”  
  
“What?”  
  
Seungwan stared at her incredulous. “That’s not going to work on me like it does with the  _others.”_  
  
Sooyoung’s chest tightened at the obvious acquisition. “You said it was okay.”  
  
“I did but you— you crossed a line.”  
  
“I've crossed back over.”  
  
Eyes narrowed. “Who isn’t texting you back?”  
  
“Huh?” She played dumb but Seungwan knew better.   
  
“You’re good at a lot of things but you’re not good at hiding what you feel on your face. You’ve been looking at your phone all night.”  
  
“So have you.”  
  
“For work.” Seungwan shook her head in disbelief. “Are they seeing someone, too?” Sooyoung’s mouth sealed shut and Seungwan let out a breath. She couldn’t lie to her. She never could. And the easiest way to keep from telling the truth was telling nothing at all. “This isn’t you, Sooyoung.”  
  
“Wait—”  
  
Seungwan shook her head, stopping Sooyoung before she could catch hold of her again. “Try again when your morals are back in order.”  
  
The bartender came up, placing their drinks onto the counter. Grabbing the tray, Seungwan walked off leaving Sooyoung to get the rest.   
  
So much for her plan, she thought as she made her way back to the booth. But maybe she was glad it didn’t work. Seungwan was no conquest and she should never be treated like one.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It was past midnight when her phone rang. Eight days since she saw Joohyun in that hotel room. Since she thought she had ruined everything. At least with Joohyun, she hadn’t ruined everything. Seungwan was a different story and surprisingly it was Seungwan that was on her mind, making her toss and turn in frustration when Joohyun’s named flashed across her screen.   
  
“Hello?”  
  
“What are you wearing?” Joohyun purred, her silky voice as warm and teasing as ever. The other girl on her mind was placed on the back burner.   
  
“Pajamas?”  
  
Joohyun giggled. “That isn’t very sexy, Sooyoung.”  
  
“I’m not a call girl. My brain doesn’t work that fast.”  
  
She hummed in response, letting the line go quiet for a few seconds. Sooyoung thought she could hear the trickling sounds of water in the background. “I have a question.”  
  
“Okay?”  
  
“How far would you go for me?”  
  
Sooyoung’s eyes opened as if she could see the woman lying in bed next to her. “It depends.”  
  
“I don’t want you to kill anyone.” Joohyun chuckled, struck amused by her self. “I want you to touch yourself.”  
  
Sooyoung rolled onto her back, the slow burn already forming. “Bored in Barcelona?”  
  
“Barcelona?”  
  
“You never told me where you were going.”  
  
“I like your imagination better.”  
  
Sooyoung laughed as she slid her pajama shorts off her ankles and lost them in the sheets. “So, where are you?”  
  
“Saipan. On our Anniversary trip.”   
  
Anniversary trip. He hadn’t told her that when he had her block out those dates on his schedule. He hadn’t even said anything about it around the office. She should’ve paid more attention. Or maybe there really was no word about it said. Interesting. She wondered why. Something like that you’d want to celebrate and let others know.   
  
Maybe Sooyoung was glad she hadn’t known. Hearing it out of Joohyun’s mouth was making her feel sick. It dimmed the heat just a little with the chilly reminder that Joohyun was fully committed to someone else.   
  
“And you thought about me?” she said.  
  
She could hear the lip bite in Joohyun’s voice. “I thought about what you can do for me.”  
  
“What’s that?”  
  
“First, it’s to never assume things about my marriage.”  
  
A wave of shame ran through her. She didn’t forget the way Joohyun iced over after what she said the last time they were together. It was a boundary she knew better than to cross. “I’m sorry.”  
  
“How sorry?” Joohyun pressed a little too husky to be honest.   
  
“I’m so sorry. Please, don’t be mad at me.”  
  
Sooyoung could hear the smile in her voice. “Begging won’t get you off the hook.”  
  
“Please, tell me what I can do to make it up to you. I’ll be good. I promise.”  
  
“You know what I want,” Joohyun whispered.   
  
Sooyoung did. And her hand had already slid between her thighs, smoothing over the hot patch there through a layer of cotton. “Where is he?”  
  
“That doesn’t matter.”  
  
Fine. Sooyoung wouldn’t press it. Not that she cared much. “How do you want me to...?”  
  
“However you want,” said Joohyun. “Let me hear you.”  
  
Sooyoung didn’t know why but she suddenly felt shy. It wasn’t like Joohyun hadn’t heard her get off before. There was just something exposing about doing it through the phone, putting a show on for someone who wasn’t physically there.   
  
“Sooyoung?”  
  
“Aren’t you going to talk to me?”  
  
“Would it help if I told you I’m in the bath?”  
  
Sooyoung laughed. “Maybe a little.”  
  
“I’ll talk as much as I can.”  
  
The reminder that her boss was near was almost a complete turn-off if her ego didn’t flare up at the fact that Joohyun was calling her for this while on their anniversary trip.   
  
She let her eyes slip shut, hand slipping beneath her underwear to lightly touch her clit that she rolled under the pads of two fingers. A haughty swarm of heat rippled through her when she thought about him being on the other side of that bathroom door, sitting on the bed watching some sports games while his wife got off to the sounds of a woman he cut checks for.   
  
Her moral compass was seriously fucked. Seungwan was right to berate her. This shouldn’t be happening and she shouldn’t be soaking because of it. But she was and she could practically hear Seungwan telling her how disappointed she was with her. How she didn’t need to resort to this. How she could do her just the same. Just as good. Get her just as—  
  
Sooyoung gasped, the sound coming out huskier than it was supposed to be. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking of her.   
  
“Please, say something,” she all but begged. She needed something to ground her in the current situation. She needed the fuel of power to hold her now. Not anything else.   
  
“I want you here.”  
  
Holy shit. Sooyoung bit her lip. She was told she was a sucker for sappy words and honest confessions and expressions of praise but she didn’t realize how much it really got her until Joohyun said what she did. It was like the strike of a match and Sooyoung flooded. Joohyun wanted her there. Not her own husband. How perfect. How delicious.   
  
“That sounds bad, doesn’t it?” said Joohyun.   
  
“Why do you want me there?”  
  
“You know why.”  
  
She did but she wanted to hear it. “Hmm?”  
  
“You could be in the bath with me. I could be touching you instead.”  
  
“And him?”  
  
“What about him?” Joohyun mused, her tone hinting of interest. “Do you want him to join? Do you want him to fill your mouth while I’m in your—“  
  
“Oh,  _god.”_  Sooyoung whimpered. The visual burst behind her lids in full detail.   
  
She could see everything. She could see the haze of the steam rising in the bathroom, her back pressed to Joohyun’s front, cushioned against her chest. She could feel one hand on her stomach, stroking across her skin and trailing upward so fingers pinched at a nipple while the other hand was beneath the water, two fingers slipping inside of her. And she could taste him inside of her mouth, dragging in and out, one hand cradling her head to hold her steady.   
  
“No—“ she breathed. It was too much and too far. Crossing a completely new line. She couldn’t go there. Damn, it felt good but she couldn’t go all the way there. “No, I want…”  
  
“Want to watch him have his way with me?”  
  
A wave of static hit her and her back arched. “Stop.”  
  
“Just me all to yourself then.” Joohyun chuckled softly. “That’s very possessive, Sooyoung.”  
  
She wanted to say that she had a right to be, that Joohyun belonged to her, that she would show Joohyun possessive but all of those things died in her throat and were lost within the thoughts of how on fire she was. She was scorching.   
  
The blankets were down at her ankles so cool air brushed against naked thighs and one hand had bunched up her shirt to expose herself to the expanse of the room. And even though she was burning, she wanted to feel Joohyun’s heat on her. She wanted it to devour her and end this torturous teasing.   
  
“I need to—“  
  
“Don’t put them in yet.”  
  
Sooyoung groaned, stopping the fingers that traced around the slickness of her entrance. “Why?”  
  
“Make it last.”  
  
“I don’t know how much longer I can.”   
  
“If I was there, I’d make you.”  
  
A jolt of arousal struck right into her clit and she had to stop her fingers from plunging in knowing she would be done right then if she let them. “How did you get so cruel?”  
  
“You bring it out of me.”  
  
“I want you in me.”  
  
Joohyun gave a heated hum. “What else do you want?”  
  
“I want your fingers inside of me. Two of them. And I want your mouth—I want you to play with me with your mouth. Your tongue—“ She sucked in a breath when she circled her clit, the fantasy of Joohyun between her legs with those smoldering eyes staring up at her, was stark and perfect behind her closed lids. It was almost too much. Getting too much. “Joohyun, please. I need to be— let me—”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
She let her fingers glide in and shuddered when the tips hit the place she liked most. A place Joohyun found easily the second time they were together. Her fingers were shorter but it didn’t matter. Joohyun knew how to use them, how to gauge the right pressure, how to watch the signs Sooyoung gave as to how much she enjoyed her actions.   
  
She was enjoying everything now. From the heavy breaths Joohyun was giving on the other side of the line and the wet sounds of her finger fucking herself.   
  
“I can hear you,” muttered Joohyun. Her tone was deep and colored the darkest hue of black. “I can hear how wet you are.”  
  
“It’s you.”  
  
Joohyun wheezed like the admission had knocked the air out of her. “Don’t say that.”  
  
“I’m all over my fingers. For you.”  
  
“Sooyoung,” she whispered. “Now.”  
  
Removing her fingers, she brought them against her clit, giving it the last few strokes that were needed to send her over.   
  
She did what Joohyun wanted, let her hear everything. The depth of her moans, she harsh pants of her breath, the mewls and the whines as she continued to touch herself, prolonging the waves as long as she could until she couldn’t take it anymore and she slumped against the mattress.   
  
The line was quiet. All Sooyoung could hear was the long drags of Joohyun’s breathing rivaling her own that had subsided into controlled streams. It was driving Sooyoung mad. She wanted to be able to see her. She wanted to know what she was thinking. What she was feeling. She wanted to touch her, feel the heat of her skin and the pillow of her lips. She wanted Joohyun. She wanted her badly.   
  
“Thank you,” Joohyun muttered, voice shaking.   
  
In the distance, Sooyoung heard the sound of a door in the background followed by the muffled sound of a male voice. Joohyun responded, indicating that she was in the bath.   
  
“Do you have to go?”  
  
“I should.”  
  
“Should?”  
  
Joohyun sighed so softly it was almost inaudible. “You’re not good for me.”  
  
“Why not?” She couldn’t decipher her tone. It was was new to her. A little forlorn mixed with a twinge of frustration and longing.   
  
“Because you make it hard to do this—“  
  
The line went dead.   
  
Sooyoung kept her phone against her ear. Her heart was in her throat. Her skin tingled. Her muscles filled with lead.   
  
What was that? And what did Joohyun mean?   
  
She didn’t want to read between the lines. She wanted to know. She wanted Joohyun to tell her.   
  
But maybe she didn’t. Because this was nothing but an affair and Joohyun had a husband and the last thing Sooyoung needed was diving deeper into the dangerous waters she was already wading in. She didn’t need that. She didn’t need Joohyun like that. She didn’t want Joohyun like that.   
  
Did she?  
  
Rolling over onto her side, Sooyoung closed her eyes, willing Joohyun to the back of her mind and for sleep to claim her again. But she never got back to sleep and Joohyun danced around in her head until morning and never went away.


	2. Chapter 2

Things shifted when Joohyun got back.   
  
Sooyoung climbed into the car with tinted windows that idled outside her apartment building. Joohyun greeted her with a smile and pulled off the curb, taking to the street.   
  
“Where are we going?” asked Sooyoung.   
  
“Dinner.”  
  
Sooyoung lifted her eyebrows. Dinner? That was...different.   
  
Leaving the car with the valets, Joohyun led them inside and they were seated quickly in a private area away from chatter where only soft music offered them company. Waitstaff came by, taking drink orders and bringing appetizers. Sooyoung was all eyes, taking everything in. She had never gone to a fancy restaurant before. Not unless it was part of a company luncheon and those were rare and barely included her. She was impressed.   
  
“What is it?” asked Joohyun, catching Sooyoung grinning oddly at her.   
  
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Is this a date?”  
  
Joohyun rolled her eyes. “I was hungry, he’s out gambling with the boys, which means I won’t see him until the weekend is over, and I thought you would like company.”  
  
“You thought _I_ would like company?” she smirked.   
  
Joohyun deadpanned. “I’m buying you dinner you should be less snarky and more appreciative.”  
  
Sooyoung shut up and let Joohyun order for them. The dish sounded good enough to her so she didn’t argue when Joohyun told her she would like it. And if she didn’t they could send it back and she could get something else that fit her taste. Sooyoung didn’t think she would do that. She hated inconveniencing the staff with something as petty as too much cilantro.   
  
“Is this what you rich people do all the time?” Sooyoung picked up a wine glass and sipped. Her mind was blown. It didn’t taste like the cheap stuff she bought at the grocery store. She figured this was what they meant by expensive, aged wine.   
  
“Right before I go back to my multi-million dollar home and get a heated massage done by my hired staff while they feed me grapes and listen to authentic, rainforest ambient soundtracks.”  
  
Sooyoung grinned, pleased with Joohyun’s playfulness. “Sounds like the life.”  
  
“What do your people do?”  
  
“I can show you after this.”  
  
Her face grew serious. “Will it be safe?”  
  
“It will. It’ll be dark. No one will see you.”  
  
Sooyoung saw the proposal go through Joohyun’s head before she settled for a nod without inquiring much more. Sooyoung didn’t expect her to agree so readily and now she was nervous. She had nothing to offer as classy as Joohyun taking them to a restaurant with prices that Sooyoung had to ignore to keep her stomach from hurting at the fact she was getting treated to such _luxuries._ It was hard for her not to think that this outing was more than just boredom on Joohyun’s part. But maybe it was. This could be her normal what with the life she lived.  
  
Speaking of the life she lived—  
  
“What exactly do you do?” asked Sooyoung as their dishes were served. She didn’t know much about her now that she thought about it.  
  
She knew that she was her boss’ wife and she knew her boss was a successful guy but even much of his private life was cloaked in mystery aside from the stores that made it down the grapevine of gossip. They were both mysterious with their polished images shown for the public to take in, though the veneer was starting to buff away the more Joohyun shared with her.   
  
Joohyun looked up from her plate. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Are you a stay at home mom?” asked Sooyoung, taking a spoonful of hot broth and sipped. Joohyun snorted as she did the same, licking her lips after she took a bite. “Then what? What kind of job do you do?”  
  
“I work for the same company you do,” she answered and Sooyoung was surprised. “It’s a different sector, working to develop our foreign market and western expansion. Most of what I do can be done remotely, so in a sense, I am a stay at home, but I have my own office space at the building I’m at. I have one at yours, too.”  
  
Sooyoung’s brow creased. “I’ve never seen you in one. I’ve only seen you come into the office a few times.”  
  
“It’s not my place to be.” Her lips pursed, tone dripping with disdain.   
  
“Did he say that?”  
  
“What kind of man do you think my husband is?” Her voice tightened, a sign that Sooyoung was starting to tread into sensitive territory but she was a curious cat fearless of death.   
  
“I don’t know. You made a face.”  
  
Joohyun blinked as if she was surprised Sooyoung caught the tiny crack in her typically water-tighter exterior. “It’s claustrophobic there. I like my space and we don’t have to be in the same room for it to work.”  
  
“He mentioned you were the inspiration behind his best ideas.”  
  
Joohyun’s cheek twitched. “That’s a simple way to put it.”  
  
“How would you put it?”  
  
“The backbone.”   
  
“Of?”  
  
Joohyun placed down her spoon, head tilting slightly as a tense smile pulled at her lips. It was anything but friendly. It was warning—testing. “Why are you so interested?”  
  
“I’m making conversation,” said Sooyoung, putting up a hand in defense. “That’s what you do when you go out with someone. Or do rich people do it differently? Do you not talk to each other when you eat? Food too good that it makes you speechless?” She thought Joohyun would get annoyed with her but she didn’t.  
  
Joohyun laughed to herself. “You’re funny, Sooyoung.”  
  
“Is that a good thing?”  
  
“Depends on your angle.”  
  
“Do I have to have one?”  
  
She shrugged, her eyes back on her food. The coils in her shoulders had loosened. Good. They were back in safer waters. “Everyone does.”  
  
“I don’t. I mean, I did. You knew what my angle was. It hasn’t changed.”  
  
Joohyun observed her for a moment. Her eyes were never wavering but her mouth was angled downward a little in the corners. Sooyoung couldn’t read her look but something about it made her chest hurt. “You should eat,” she finally said. “That entree costs more than one month of your wages.”  
  
“Does it really?”  
  
“No, but how pale you got just now thinking it was was worth it.”  
  
Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “You really are cruel.”  
  
Joohyun’s smile returned. “You have no idea.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Sooyoung didn’t really pay attention to the synopsis of the movies showing. She was too excited about the fact that Joohyun was letting her take her to something as mundane as a cheap movie theatre where she was sure there was gum stuck on most of the seats and the floors in the concession area were sticky from spilled cola. She might’ve felt self-conscious about it but she couldn’t feel much else through the butterflies in her stomach or the heavy swooning she was doing while watching Joohyun’s big eyes survey the place like she had happened upon a toy store for the first time at age three.   
  
“You look impressed,” said Sooyoung.  
  
“I haven’t been to a theatre like this since I was in high school.”   
  
“Let me guess. You had private screening venues?”  
  
A tint of red touched Joohyun’s cheeks. Confirmed. “What are we seeing?”  
  
Sooyoung picked the first one on the list that didn’t involve blood and guts or political jargon and took them up into the theatre to a pair of seats high enough up that the other patrons wouldn’t pay them any mind.   
  
“Here.” Sooyoung handed Joohyun a tub of popcorn that they bought from concessions.   
  
Joohyun starred at the tub curiously. “What is this? We don’t have it in the land of the wealthy.  
  
“Now you’re making fun.”  
  
Joohyun giggled and popped a few kernels into her mouth, her eyes drawn up to the screen that was playing ads and behind the scenes videos of other movies before the actual previews played. She looked much more relaxed than Sooyoung had seen her before. Like she could actually breathe. Like she didn’t need to chase the high of an orgasm to fall back from the edge she was normally on.   
  
It made Sooyoung curious. Made her wonder what more there was to Joohyun. What more there was to her boss. To the things that happened behind closed doors. She believed Joohyun when she said she sought out others and took Sooyoung up on her offer because of what he couldn’t do for her in bed but she had the feeling there was more to it than that.   
  
“Oh, it’s starting!” If she were a kid, Joohyun would’ve bounced in her seat.   
  
Sooyoung hid her smile behind a handful of popcorn and let her eyes sweep up to the screen. Previews played through and gave way to the movie. She tried to get invested in it but she was hyper-aware of Joohyun sitting next to her. Her eyes wandered, cutting to her left to gauge Joohyun’s reactions. She saw her smile here, laugh there, a wrinkle her brow at something unpleasant and bite into her lip at a tense moment.   
  
Half the movie played through and the story ramped up, bringing intense action-packed scenes. The others in the theatre reacted at something big and Joohyun turned to her, eyes big. Sooyoung wasn’t fast enough to look away and their eyes met.   
  
“Did you see that?” asked Joohyun. She was certainly enjoying herself.  
  
Sooyoung was too but for different reasons. “Yeah,” she lied.   
  
Joohyun turned back to the screen and Sooyoung forced herself to pay attention. And she managed to for a little while longer until a hand landed on her thigh. She looked down at where Joohyun was stroking her thumb against the bare skin of her knee that peak from the end of her dress. It was innocent enough. Sooyoung didn’t pay much attention to it but it didn’t stay there. Her hand slid downward, dipping to the inside of her thigh and dragging up where she let her fingertips play against the sensitive skin there.   
  
Sooyoung’s insides started to warm and when she looked at Joohyun she wasn’t surprised to see that she had her head angled at the screen, popping another kernel into her mouth as if nothing was happening. But everything was happening and Sooyoung watched helplessly as fingers slipped even further under the hem of her skirt, riding on the most erogenous zone on her thigh. Sooyoung cleared her throat in attempts to let out a small amount of tension.  
  
“Did you really think I believed you brought us here only to watch a movie?” Joohyun muttered, leaning over like she was simply commenting on something that was going on in the movie.   
  
“I did want to watch a movie.”  
  
“What do you like to say? Bullshit.” Her head turned, making it so their faces were only a sliver apart. It would be easy to kiss her in this position or drag her tongue along Joohyun’s bottom lip that was a little glossy from the butter on the popcorn. “I could feel your eyes on me.”  
  
She didn’t have anything witty to say back to that and the truth was too soft to admit. She liked looking at Joohyun, watching her, taking her in. She was pretty but she was something else and Sooyoung was being drawn into it little by little despite herself. But all those little, sweet, innocent thoughts fluttered away when a fingertip pressed against the swell of her clit making her jump at the sudden contact.   
  
“I feel like there are so many eyes on me,” she went on. “Do you know what would happen if someone saw me with you?” Her finger swirled against her and Sooyoung adjusted in her seat, opening herself up a little more. “If someone saw me with my hand up your skirt? This could mess up everything.” Her fingers slipped beneath her underwear. “Maybe not as messy as you are right now.”  
  
Sooyoung steadied her breath before speaking. “I thought you didn’t want to play that game anymore.”  
  
“I don’t but you like the idea of getting caught”—Joohyun traced down the split in her lips to the pool of wetness that was increasing there—”don’t you?”  
  
“Yes,” she mouthed more than said.  
  
“What if it was him who caught us?” she purred, her mouth moving to where she could speak into Sooyoung’s ear. “Would you be embarrassed and run or would you spread your legs even more so that he could have a full view of me fucking you?”  
  
Sooyoung slumped in the chair, scooting her hips forward so that she could open herself enough for Joohyun to do just that. She heard her chuckle at her side as she eased a finger in halfway, toying around with her heat, tracing the rim of her entrance and painting her slick up and down her clit in lazy motions.   
  
“Sometimes I think about you when I’m with him,” said Joohyun. Sooyoung let out a sigh and Joohyun’s hand instantly stopped. Pulling her head away, she surveyed the theatre, eyes quick to do a check on the other patrons before returning to her ear. “You have to be quiet.” She knew that but she had never been the type and with Joohyun it was even harder. “Can you do that?”  
  
She answered with a nod.   
  
“Good girl,” Joohyun sounded thoroughly pleased and Sooyoung’s stomach fluttered at the small show of praise. “Do you remember the night I called you? It was our anniversary so you know what that means. I’d been holding off but I knew I couldn’t anymore. I needed you that night. I needed to think about your fingers when he put his cock in me.”  
  
Sooyoung bit her lip. The visuals that brought exploded behind her closed lids. It shouldn’t burn her up. She didn’t want to think about them together but knowing she was part of the equation made it better.   
  
“He stretches me so good but you”—she let out a breath, the heat of it burning against her neck—”Sooyoung, you always get me dripping. Even hearing you moan for me makes me a little crazy.” The admission was enough to make the softest squeak leave her throat. “Shh, shh, shh,” Joohyun cooed, “or I’ll have to stop.”  
  
Sooyoung locked her jaw. Mind over matter, she told herself. She couldn’t mess this up. She didn’t want to mess this up but she liked the challenge. Liked the idea of Joohyun getting her off but also her leaving her in her seat for the last hour of the movie in damp panties and a throbbing ache between her thighs.   
  
When Sooyoung had control of her breathing again, Joohyun continued. “Do you want to know what happened that night?” Sooyoung swallowed. Did she? Envy said no but desire made her nod and Joohyun’s breathy laugh made her simmer. “He had me get on my hands and knees for him,” she said. “That’s how he likes it.”  
  
Sooyoung could picture it. The weight of her palms sinking into the mattress with her knees spread and heavy hands on her hips. Was her hair down? That’s how Sooyoung saw it. Long, black tresses spilling over one shoulder and her lip pulled between her teeth, neck craned back waiting for what was to come. She could see the way Joohyun’s back would arch, her lids fluttering shut when he entered her.  
  
“I closed my eyes and I imagined you there,” she went on, her voice going smokey. The fingers against Sooyoung continued their fun, adding pressure to the circles she dragged around her swollen clit. “Me, on your face. Your tongue where he was.”  
  
Sooyoung choked down a moan. Her hand curled around the armrest in attempts to let out the tension any other way than to voice it. It was hard. So hard. Especially when she could remember the taste of Joohyun on her tongue. How she oozed into her mouth. How she rode against her, bumping into her nose the closer she drew. She liked letting Joohyun have her but she liked making Joohyun crumble for her. She was so lovely to watch.   
  
“Then you were him.” Joohyun laughed darkly, fingers gliding downward. “And you turned me over, made me watch you go in and out of me.”   
  
Sooyoung’s mouth fell open. It took her everything not to squeak when Joohyun slipped into her.   
  
“Maybe I did want you there.” She hummed.   
  
Her fingers pumped with determination and Sooyoung was eager to hit that peak. She needed it. Craved it. She didn’t know how much longer she could hold back from being a whimpering mess the more Joohyun told her that,  
  
“I almost said your name,” she admitted and Sooyoung’s stomach fluttered. “But I bet you wouldn’t mind that. Me, yelling out your name while he’s buried inside of me. You’d love it.”  
  
Sooyoung drew her in bottom lip. She would’ve liked that. She would’ve liked to see his face go red and his pride shatter. It would’ve been the best look. The best treat.   
  
“Maybe I’d love it, too. Just like I would’ve loved to come on your tongue that night instead of his cock.” Joohyun’s voice shook as if her own words were getting to her. “That night was the best I’d ever had.” She leaned in so her lips were right against Sooyoung’s ear. “All because of you.”  
  
Sooyoung snapped, teeth biting into her lip to hold everything in as pleasure rocked her. Joohyun eased out of her, using the front of her underwear to clean off her hand before pulling them from beneath her dress. Sooyoung caught her wrist. Joohyun looked up at her. She couldn’t take this anymore.   
  
“Let’s go,” she said.  
  
Joohyun smiled and got up, following Sooyoung out of the theatre. She had a one-track mind to get into the car and—  
  
“Sooyoung?”  
  
She stuttered in her steps and turned around. The heat inside of her dulled only due to the surprise of seeing the face that was staring back at her.   
  
“I thought that was you.”  
  
“Seungwan, hey.” She felt Joohyun come up on her side, closing the distance that was made when she realized Sooyoung stopped. Sooyoung felt her heart in her throat when Seungwan’s focus flickered over to her. She was right to say that Sooyoung wasn’t good at hiding her face but Seungwan was good at it though the way it closed up and turned into a false show of polite modesty was telling. “This is—”  
  
“Seulgi,” Joohyun introduced, offering a hand that Seungwan shook. She tried not to think about the fact that same hand had just been between her legs. “Work friends.”  
  
“Old friends,” Seungwan supplied.   
  
“We met when Seungwan was getting her masters,” said Sooyoung.  
  
“It’s Doctor now.”  
  
Sooyoung stilled. “Wow. Congratulations.”  
  
“You would know if you paid attention.”  
  
Sooyoung’s heart sank and what she was feeling moments ago that Joohyun created dimmed at the way disappointment creased in Seungwan’s brow. “I must’ve missed it. I had a lot to drink.”  
  
“Sooyoung, we should go,” said Joohyun from beside her.   
  
Seungwan’s gaze flickered to her, taking her in as if she forgot she was there. She always had a set focus when it came to Sooyoung. She didn’t see anyone else. Only her. Was always there for her. Always saw her, counted on her, loved her...  
  
Sooyoung winced when she heard Joohyun clear her throat. “I have to go.”  
  
“Right, sorry I’m holding you up,” she said to Sooyoung then turned back to Joohyun. “It was nice to meet you.”  
  
“You, too.”  
  
“Hey, Sooyoung?” she called out just as she turned her back. Sooyoung stopped to look back over her shoulder. “Be careful, okay?”  
  
“Enjoy your movie,” she replied and looked away quickly. Steering them out of the theatre, Sooyoung took the lead, weaving through the parking garage to where Joohyun parked the car. “Really? You used the name of the founder’s daughter?”  
  
“Really? Be careful?” she shot back as they dropped in.   
  
Sooyoung groaned in distress. “Ignore her.”  
  
“Should I be worried?”  
  
“The only thing you should worry about is that if we don’t get somewhere in fifteen minutes, I’ll take you in this car.”  
  
Joohyun started the car with a smirk. There was still obvious worry in her eyes when she glanced at Sooyoung every once and a while as she pulled them out of the parking space and winded through the parking garage. “Did I get you like this or was it her?”  
  
“Does it matter? Just go.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
“Who is she?”  
  
The sun was in her eyes. Sooyoung brought her hand up to shield from the rays coming through the window where Joohyun had drawn the curtains. She was sitting on the edge of the bed in only the lace of her bra and her hair tied back. The morning sun lit up her fair skin a fine shade of dusty gold. The room smelled of coffee. It felt very...warm. Something Sooyoung never experienced after nights like this and especially not with Joohyun.   
  
She was usually gone by now or dressed, slipping on her heels and reminding Sooyoung that she would check them out and not to linger much longer. Part of her mind wandered into treacherous territory, concocting fantasies of waking up in a queen-size mattress and finely, crafted sheets in the privacy of their together home. Was it the luxuries of the place that charmed her or was it Joohyun herself? Sooyoung wasn’t so sure but she was sure that seeing Joohyun perched there looking serene and like the carving of an intricate cut stature was doing something in her.  
  
Too bad her question ruined it.  
  
“Who?” Sooyoung asked though she knew who Joohyun meant. She didn’t really want to think about Seungwan. Not again. She always clashed against Joohyun in Sooyoung’s head.  
  
“The girl from the theatre.”  
  
“Are you jealous?”  
  
Joohyun looked back over her shoulder to meet Sooyoung’s gaze. “I’m cautious.”  
  
“She’s harmless. She’s not connected to work.”   
  
“So?”  
  
Sighing, Sooyoung sat up and leaned against the headboard. She noted the time. Ten in the morning. Much later than they had ever spent the morning after together. “She’s my ex.”  
  
Eyebrows lifted in interest and Joohyun turned her body, legs pulling up onto the bed that she folded back neatly. “Did that happen before or after you became a serial manizer?”   
  
Sooyoung rolled her eyes. “At the beginning.”  
  
Joohyun’s eyebrows went cocked.   
  
“Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know the full story.”  
  
“Then tell me.”  
  
“Why are you so interested?”  
  
“I’m making conversation,” Joohyun countered.  
  
Sooyoung scoffed at the own words being used against her. “We broke up a few months ago,” she said. “She was finishing up her degree and got really busy.”  
  
It might’ve been Sooyoung’s fault. It wasn’t like she was jealous of Seungwan’s discipline or attentiveness to her studies or her late nights writing papers or reading textbooks that cut into their time together but it wasn’t always her favorite thing. It was unfair and she knew it.  
  
“It started to make things rough so we went on a break.” And they began to drift apart. Sooyoung didn’t want to say it was to spite Seungwan but she wasn’t acting rationally when she went and picked up the pretty, older woman from the bar. “I didn’t know they were married to someone from work until weeks later. I felt horrible about it.”  
  
“I didn’t take you for a cheater. Only the cheatee.”  
  
“I didn’t cheat. Our break meant we could be open to others. It was complicated.”  
  
Joohyun nodded. “Go on.”  
  
“I told her about it. I tell her everything. She understood and she knew I would never intentionally ruin someone’s life.”  
  
“Questionable,” Joohyun pointed out. “But you didn’t stop.”  
  
Sooyoung shook her head. “We drifted further apart and I”—she waved her hand in Joohyun’s general direction—”got a new hobby. We ended it officially soon after that. On our date night if I might add.” Which was one of Sooyoung’s worst nights in a while. She understood Seungwan’s reasoning. If Sooyoung wanted to see other people, then she had the right to do it. The one thing Seungwan didn’t like was the rings on the fingers of those who she was spending those nights alone with.  
  
“Now it makes sense,” said Joohyun. “She was getting her degree and you felt small.” Sooyoung glared and Joohyun laughed. “You didn’t see your face when she said doctor. It’s obvious why you get so wet from preying on your coworker’s wives. It makes you feel good, doesn’t it? Having a one-up on someone else that’s better than you?”  
  
“They’re not better than me.”  
  
Joohyun shrugged.   
  
Sooyoung sighed and cut her a glare. “You’re supposed to fuck me stupid not psychoanalyze me.”  
  
Joohyun hummed a noncommittal response and got up. Sooyoung’s eyes followed her underwear-clad form across the room where she received the coffee pot and poured it into one of the supplied ceramic mugs. “Do you think she would give you another chance?”  
  
Sooyoung balked. “Why?”  
  
“Why not? She seemed nice.”  
  
“She was—is nice. She’s almost perfect but...”  
  
“But?” Joohyun took a sip, her eyes back on Sooyoung.   
  
She bit her lip. She didn’t want to say it. She wasn’t sure what that what was but she had a feeling and that feeling was dangerous.   
  
Lowering her mug, Joohyun let out a doleful breath. “I’m married, Sooyoung, and this is an affair.”  
  
“I know that,” she snapped back harder than she intended.  
  
“Do you?”  
  
“Do _you?”_  
  
Joohyun frowned but Sooyoung could tell she was hiding something, cloaking away an emotion she didn’t want to be seen. “All I’m saying is that if anything goes wrong you’re going to want someone on your side.”  
  
Sooyoung opened her mouth to retort but then she remembered who she was and who Joohyun was. If anyone found out, she would lose her job. She would be shamed. She would be humiliated in a way she didn’t want nor like. She couldn’t let that happen. She didn’t want it to happen. Just as much as she didn’t want to think about this ending anytime soon.   
  
She wondered why. Was it the sex? Was it the freedom? The secrecy? Was it Joohyun? Or was it something else that Joohyun supplied her? Because with Joohyun she didn’t have to think straight. Everything was chaotic and muddy and unpredictable. It was an ego boost. She didn’t have to commit entirely but, no, that wasn’t it. Joohyun made her feel good, made her feel empowered, made her feel larger than life but it was a placeholder—a distraction from her own things hidden deep.   
  
Sooyoung huffed. “I can take care of myself.”  
  
“You’re a strong, independent woman, right?” Joohyun teased and Sooyoung scoffed unamused. “You should hear the way you talk about her. It’s the way I wish he still talked about me.”  
  
“So, was I right about what I said about your marriage?”  
  
Her lips pressed into a line as she placed the mug on the counter. “Not exactly.”  
  
Sooyoung narrowed her eyes, begging for more but Joohyun gave her nothing more. She sighed. “Can we go back to when we were naked and I had my fingers in you?”  
  
Joohyun’s guards loosened up and she crossed back toward the bed. “You can call me by her name if you want.”  
  
“Shut up, Joohyun.”  
  
Joohyun grinned and fisted her collar, legs straddling Sooyoung’s waist. “Yes, ma’am.”   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Things at work changed too though Sooyoung was slow to notice considering the pendulum swing of her boss’s mood were common.   
  
She could hear his voice loud but muffled through the walls. It wasn’t unusual for him to yell at someone on the phone. It happened almost once a week and no one cared to pay much attention. But there was something particular about this time. The yelling was sharper, his tongue a lot harsher, his tone less professional like he was speaking with a familiar.   
  
“Can you hear him?” she asked a young intern who was on a ladder near her boss’s office, fixing a busted light bulb. He nodded and Sooyoung waved him over. “So?”  
  
“Uh, I think he’s talking to his wife.”  
  
“About?”  
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
Sooyoung rolled her eyes. Useless. “Thanks.” She waved a hand, dismissing him from her presence. He scurried off, nearly missing the last step of the ladder as he scaled back up. If you wanted something done, do it yourself.  
  
Getting up, Sooyoung grabbed a few papers off her desk and moved over to where the shredder was that put her closer to his office. She could make out a few things here and there.  
  
“You’re nothing without me.”  
  
“I built this.”  
  
“I’m sick of this, Joohyun.”  
  
“I’ll sleep wherever I want, I paid for that bed!”  
  
Yikes.  
  
Sooyoung pulled away once the last paper was fed through the machine and stalked back to her desk. She returned to her chair just in time for her boss’s office door to open up. He was a little red-faced. Adjusting his tie, he approached Sooyoung’s desk.  
  
“Cancel my ten o’clock,” he said to her.  
  
“Yes, sir. Should I reschedule?”  
  
“No.”  
  
He left her, hand reaching into the pocket of his slacks for a phone that he brought up to his ear. Joy’s eyes followed him until they couldn't anymore.   
  
Odd, she thought. She wondered what was going on.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Sooyoung kept her phone on hand, waiting to see if Joohyun would message her. After a fight with her husband like that, she must’ve wanted a good lay. Something to relax her. Calm her down. Fuck all those bad vibes and bad energy out of her system and spark a wave of endorphins. But Joohyun didn’t text and she didn’t call and Sooyoung was getting bored. Or rather she was getting anxious. That wasn’t a good sign and it wasn’t a good look.   
  
She chewed on her thumbnail as she scrolled through the contacts on her phone. She didn’t want to be alone tonight. She was too riled up and restless for that. She needed an outlet.   
  
Finding Yerim’s name, her finger hovered over the call button. Yerim was always reliable. She wouldn’t ask too many questions and wouldn’t pry into places she knew Sooyoung didn’t like. They could catch a movie or see what live bands were playing downtown or hit up a club and dance the night away until they were worn out and Sooyoung was too exhausted to think.   
  
But she didn’t want to see Yerim.   
  
She scrolled to a different name and hit the messaging icon. A text typed out at lightning speed and sent before she could talk herself out of it.   
  
Busying herself around the apartment, she distracted herself from the lack of immediate response. A chime came nearly an hour later and Sooyoung could practically hear Seungwan’s voice in the message.   
  
_—If this is a booty call I’m not interested._  
  
Sooyoung grinned and hit call.   
  
“It’s not a booty call,” she said after Seungwan answered. “It’s just dinner. I’m bored and no one else is available.”  
  
“So I’m the last resort?”  
  
“No, you’re the— So what? Do you want to go out or not?”  
  
“Where?”  
  
Sooyoung told her an old place they used to frequent. “Is that okay? Meet in twenty?”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The place was cheap but it was good. It worked well on the tight budget Sooyoung had back then and was perfect for when Seungwan stayed on campus late and she needed a bite to eat.   
  
Sooyoung sipped on her cola as Seungwan settled into the chair across from her. It was a lot different than the fancy restaurant hat Joohyun took her to but it wasn’t worse. If she was honest, she felt out of place in that restaurant with Joohyun. Stuffy. Stiff. She could relax here.   
  
“I ordered the usual,” said Sooyoung.   
  
Seungwan smiles that soft smile and it was almost like they were six months ago, fairly happy, with hearts in their eyes.   
  
“So...doctor, huh?” started Sooyoung. “Doctor Son. Sophisticated.”  
  
Eyes narrowed. “Are you making fun of me?”  
  
“No,” she said quickly. Seungwan’s eyebrow cocked. Sooyoung deflated. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m— uh— I’m proud of you.”  
  
“You are?”  
  
Sooyoung nodded and shrugged and slumped in her chair. She was uncomfortable. Joohyun made her feel nervous and tense for her own reasons. Joohyun made her feel unhinged, chaotic, inferior, and insecure. Seungwan made her nervous because she knew Sooyoung’s truth. She knew that the calloused front she put on was a farce. She was sugar behind the spice and everything nice. Or used to be. It was hidden now like mud splattered on a beautiful stained glass window.   
  
“Can’t I be?”  
  
Seungwan‘s lips pursed as she mumbled. “You didn’t sound very pleased back then.”  
  
“You make it sound like it was years ago.”  
  
“It feels like it,” Seungwan admitted, biting her lip.  
  
Sooyoung’s eyes shifted down to it, watching the way the flesh slipped from beneath her teeth and regained color. Her mouth was so soft. She was so soft and being in this damn restaurant was making her feel soft with all the memories and the flavors and fragrances of familiar foods wafting in the air. “I’m sorry.”  
  
Seungwan’s eyes widened before they narrowed. “For what?”  
  
She remembered what Joohyun said. How Seungwan must’ve made her feel small. And, yeah, she didn’t like to hear it and it burned her up but she might’ve been right. Seungwan was the smart one who got the things she wanted because she worked hard for them. She didn’t seem an easy way out. She bulldozed through. Sooyoung admires her for it if only because she fucked her way through her hard times.   
  
“For what I did,” she said.   
  
“What did you do?”  
  
“You’re the one with the Ph.D. I shouldn’t need to spell it out.”   
  
Seungwan smiled smugly. “It’s rare that I get to see you squirm.”   
  
Sooyoung flicked a grain of rice at her. She laughed and brushed it off the front of her blouse.   
  
“You don’t have to keep apologizing,” she said. “Not to me.”  
  
Sooyoung’s muscles tightened. She knew what Seungwan meant. Who she meant. But she be damned if she went and apologized to all those not so poor wedded souls that passed through her hands. She never really felt guilty about it...did she? Seungwan was making her feel guilty. Rightfully so.   
  
“You’re dressed up,” she changed the subject. “Were you going somewhere?”  
  
Seungwan drew shy as she looked down at her outfit. “Coming from.” She tucked hair behind her ear, eyes dipping modestly. “I accepted a teaching position at the university.”  
  
“Do you do anything that doesn’t involve school?”  
  
“I used to.” Seungwan pulled in her bottom lip, chewing it shyly as she looked up across at Sooyoung through strands of fringe.   
  
Sooyoung’s stomach fluttered. Seungwan could be shy but she was more than that underneath, holding dirty little secrets of her own.   
  
“Are you dropping a hint?”  
  
Seungwan nonchalantly sipped her drink. “Maybe.”  
  
“That’s vague.”  
  
Seungwan lowered her voice. “Do you want to take me back to your place or not?”  
  
Sooyoung’s chest singed.   
  
“Excuse me,” she called to a server passing by. “Can I get the check, please?”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She woke up to the smell of coffee and food cooking.   
  
Rolling out of bed, she pulled on the oversized plaid shirt Seungwan wore around her waist the precious day and padded into the kitchen. Seungwan hovered over the stove, cooking up some breakfast style stir fry while the coffee pot filled steadily in the maker. Hearing her come in, Seungwan looked back over her shoulder at her. Her hair was a little messy, tamed only by hands running through it and her makeup was washed up so her cheeks looked extra round and soft.   
  
Sooyoung’s insides tightened. Seungwan looked like she always did. Like she belonged there. For a second, she pictured Joohyun in her place. Joohyun with her hard stares and her mischievous bites in her lip. Her tossed hair and her haughty aura. It was so different than Seungwan and she wondered if that was really something she would like to see every day. Except Joohyun would never be permanent. She made that clear. But what if she was? What if she could be?   
  
“You can’t keep that,” said Seungwan, jutting her chin to the shirt Sooyoung was wearing.   
  
She motioned to the sweats Seungwan was wearing. “Then leave the pants.”  
  
Seungwan’s cheeks tinted. “Sorry, I went through your drawers. I didn’t want to put jeans back on.”  
  
Sooyoung shrugged and stepped further into the kitchen. She has the urge to lean down and kiss Seungwan on the cheek. Something she used to do when she found her cooking in the morning or the afternoon or the evening when she’d lift her up onto the counter top and dive into an appetizer before settling at the table for a proper meal.   
  
She slipped by her instead, going for the kitchen to grab a carton of orange juice. “You could’ve put nothing on.”  
  
Seungwan didn’t react to that other than shifting the spatula around in the pan before flicking off the burner.   
  
“Are you going to tell me the truth now?” she asked.   
  
Sooyoung held a gulp of juice she took straight from the carton in her mouth. It tasted sour. She knew it was because of the way Seungwan was looking at her expectantly, hip leaned up against the counter. Her bangs were all choppy looking, fringed across her forehead and her shoulder length hair was bed-worn, a leftover result of the night they spent together. Sooyoung still couldn’t believe it happened.  
  
She swallowed and sat the carton aside. The flannel she wore didn’t feel like enough layers to combat Seungwan’s gaze that could turn concrete back into wet cement. She wasn’t like Joohyun who made her defense crumble. She made her melt. “Don’t make me say it.”  
  
Seungwan frowned. “Why are you doing this?”  
  
She shrugged.   
  
“You know they’re using you.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
Her brow furrowed. “You’re okay with that?”  
  
Sooyoung couldn’t answer. She hadn’t thought much about it until Joohyun made her reevaluate her own processes. Now everything was all messed up and convoluted in her head but Seungwan wasn’t right. They weren’t using her. Sooyoung was using _them._ She sought them out, she brought them back, she put them onto a mattress, she was in control. She was always in control. Until Joohyun. And Joohyun was using her just the same. She made it clear from the beginning and kept making it clear, reminding Sooyoung that she was married, that this was an affair, that she could only achieve her orgasmic goals with Sooyoung’s help.   
  
Maybe all of those things she muttered into Sooyoung’s ear weren’t part of the game. Maybe she truly meant everything. But if that as so, she must’ve meant everything else. Like that she liked spending time with her, that she liked thinking about her, that Sooyoung made it harder for her.  
  
But what did any of that mean? What traction did it hold when Joohyun was still barred from her by a ring on her finger? It didn’t because Joohyun wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a one-off and they should’ve gone their separate ways. Yet, here Sooyoung was, getting singed by the fire she started.   
  
“It makes me feel good,” she said but those words didn’t sound nearly as convincing as she wanted them to.   
  
Seungwan’s head tilted, her tone genuine. “For how long?”  
  
 _“Longer than you,”_ she wanted to spit. It was only her bitterness talking—the pent up anger leftover from a nasty breakup that wanted to hurt Seungwan more. Because it wasn’t true. She couldn’t pretend like those words are true.   
  
“It’s my life and my body,” Sooyoung said instead, words fueled by a fierce surge of insecurity. “I can do whatever I want with it.”  
  
“Right.” Seungwan’s jaw tightened and her lips pursed. Sooyoung hated it when she did that. She hated making Seungwan mad at her. “I should go.”  
  
“Don’t—” she called out. “Wait. Please?”  
  
Seungwan stopped just outside the kitchen. She turned back around, supporting her weight on the doorframe. Sooyoung looked her over. What was it that Joohyun asked? If Seungwan would give her a second chance? Second chances were the last thing on her mind that morning. Joohyun was looking stunning in her morning-after glow and Sooyoung wanted to whisk her away again, get her moaning, make her ooze. But what would happen when it all ended? What would happen when Joohyun was tired of her or found a new toy or something worse? They got caught.   
  
Joohyun would be gone in a blink. All of their fun would evaporate. Sooyoung would begin her hunt again, finding a semblance of power in another warm body that could never be hers. But Seungwan was once hers and she could be and there would be no strings attached and she wouldn’t have to seek out fleeting threads to make her feel something because Seungwan did make her feel something. Something lasting and not temporary.   
  
“Could we ever start over?” she asked, softly.   
  
Seungwan’s lashes fluttered, taken aback. Her shock erased quickly but she didn’t completely recover. Her mask wasn’t as perfect as Joohyun’s. Seungwan showed her heart and Sooyoung didn’t have to wonder if her question affected her or not. It showed all over her as she drew her arms up, crossing them over her chest like it would protect her heart.   
  
“How would I know you won’t do to me like the others are doing to the ones they’re with?”  
  
Sooyoung flared in offense before she caught herself. It was a fair question. She was being a shit of a person and Seungwan didn’t deserve that. “I would never do that.”  
  
“So, stop,” she said, a pleading edge in her tone.   
  
It sounded so easy. It was easy. It should be easy. It could be easy. Like the previous night with Seungwan was easy, uninterrupted by the thoughts of another woman.   
  
Sooyoung was hopeful when she asked. “Then we could start over?”   
  
“Yeah…” Her smile turned lopsided. “Maybe we could.” Stepping across the room, Seungwan stretched on her toes to touch a kiss to Sooyoung’s cheek. “Bye.”  
  
Sooyoung caught her by the drawstrings in her sweat, reeling her back in to bring their lips together. She melted into it the same way Seungwan relented and she smiled feeling a win against her lips. “Bye.”   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She got the call in the middle of the night. Sooyoung pulled on a pair of pajama shorts and a hoodie to meet Joohyun at the door.   
  
“Hi.”  
  
“Hey.” Stepping aside, she let Joohyun in.   
  
Letting the door close, she watched Joohyun pace through the space. She was the observant type, taking in everything. Sooyoung was self-conscious as she did it. She was sure her little apartment was nothing compared to the home Joohyun lived in. Her self-consciousness, however, was overrun by the disbelief that Joohyun was in her apartment. It was a new boundary crossed.   
  
“Sorry, it’s no mansion.” Her joke was met with no reaction.   
  
Joohyun simply sat on the edge of the couch, hands clasped in her lap. She looked unnerved. A little frazzled. On edge. Heat pooled into Sooyoung’s stomach, her body trained to what an on-edge Joohyun was capable of. But this was a different sort of edge she had never seen before.   
  
“Do you want anything?” she asked.   
  
Joohyun looked up at her as if she was just noticing Sooyoung in the room. “Water.”  
  
Grabbing a glass from the cabinet she filled it up and brought it back. Joohyun took it but didn’t make a move to drink. She held the glass curled in her fingers on her knees, her eyes drawn off to no point in particular. Sooyoung sank down onto the opposite end of the couch where she watched her. Joohyun was freaking her out. She didn’t know what to do.  
  
“Is everything okay?” she asked after a few minutes. The untouched water in the glass was probably lukewarm by now.   
  
Joohyun shook out of her placid silence to look over at her. She looked tired and Sooyoung noticed that her makeup wasn’t as full as it usually was. “Can I sit here for a moment?”  
  
Sooyoung shrugged. She had already been sitting for a moment but, “Sure.”  
  
Joohyun cast her eyes over to her, a gentle frown on her mouth. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for but I needed somewhere to go that he doesn’t know about.”  
  
Weird. Was she hiding? Why would she need to hide? “What happened?”  
  
“Argument. The usual.”  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“I’m not a battered woman, Sooyoung,” she snapped back, zero to one hundred faster than Sooyoung could process. “He’s never laid a finger on me.”  
  
“I didn’t say that.”  
  
Joohyun scoffed “You were thinking it.” She was. Guilty as charged. “Would it make you feel better if he did?”  
  
“What?” Sooyoung couldn't keep up. She didn’t understand why Joohyun was attacking her. She showed up at her place, not the other way around.   
  
Sitting the glass onto the coffee table, she turned, angling her body on the couch to face Sooyoung who went stiff once she had Joohyun’s full attention. “Sometimes I question why you’re still around. Why you keep letting this happen. Do you think that you’re helping me? Supplying a moment of relief from a disaster of a home?”  
  
Sooyoung sat up, brow creasing. “Is it wrong for me to wonder why you don’t just leave him?”  
  
Eyes narrowed. “Have you ever been married? No. You wouldn’t understand.”  
  
“Understand what?” she urged. Now she was really curious and confused and caught off guard. She always suspected there was more going on than Joohyun let on. The way she kept herself so guarded, how she challenged each of Sooyoung’s questions when she asked about anything pertaining to Joohyun and her boss, how she kept her at arm's length, held just close enough to blow her mind, make her heart flutter, make her hungry for more but not close enough to actually _touch_ her.   
  
That’s what drove Sooyoung insane. Joohyun never really let her touch her. Joohyun never really gave her control. Joohyun never made her feel like she won and it made Sooyoung come back, again and again, trying to finally gain that one up.   
  
“Playing the long game takes patience,” said Joohyun. “Patience isn’t easy, so I need ways to find relief. To sustain me.”  
  
Ouch. It’s not like she didn’t know she was a side piece but somewhere in her head, she started to think of herself as a first choice. The things Joohyun said to her made her feel like more than a filler. “I’m the relief.”  
  
“I—” Joohyun stuttered and licked her lips, eyes dropping like she couldn’t look at Sooyoung while she admitted, “I like spending time with you. It’s not that simple anymore.”  
  
“What does that mean?”  
  
Joohyun shook her head but before Sooyoung could press any further she was cut off by a question. “How’s Seungwan?”  
  
She narrowed her eyes suddenly defensive by the inquiry. “Why do you care so much about her?”  
  
“I don’t.”  
  
“Then why ask about her?”  
  
“I care about you.”  
  
Sooyoung snorted. “Do you really?”   
  
Just like that, Joohyun was ironclad again. “I shouldn’t have come here.” She stood up.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry.” Sooyoung was quick, catching Joohyun’s wrist and turning her back around. The feel of her skin against her palm sent a jolt of energy through her. She had no reason to feel guilty but she did. Something in the way Joohyun was looking up at her. All fragile and small. It wasn’t her usual. “You’re right. I don’t know anything about your marriage. I don’t belong in it.” She licked her lips, staring down into Joohyun’s eyes where they stood in the middle of the living room. They even looked different tonight. Not as firey or focused. They were harder. A little angry. Hurt. “I’ll remember my place.”  
  
“Will you?” Joohyun pivoted to fully turn her body toward Sooyoung.  
  
“I can be good.”  
  
Joohyun’s mouth kinked into a smirk, her voice going smoky. “Maybe you were wrong about humiliation. Maybe what you really want is for someone to make you feel good. Tell you how good you are.”  
  
Sooyoung simmered. “You make me feel good.”  
  
Joohyun’s eyes closed as she let out a sigh. “I’m going to ruin you, Sooyoung.”  
  
“You already have.” Taking the hand in her grip, she brought to her stomach where she paused. Joohyun looked down to where her fingertips touched the waistband of cotton shorts then back up. Sooyoung held her gaze as she led the hand down into her shorts, gasping when Joohyun’s fingers touched heat. “See?”  
  
“You shouldn’t do things like that,” she said but her actions betrayed her as her hand moved on its own, slipping two fingers over Sooyoung’s clit where they massaged.   
  
Sooyoung’s mouth parted open ass her breathing began to pick up. “Isn’t this what you want?”  
  
“Oh, Sooyoung,” Joohyun grinned but it didn’t touch her eyes. She didn't have a chance to think about it however when those two fingers poised at her entrance. “You don’t know the first thing about what I really want.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The other side of the bed was cold when she got up. Sooyoung didn’t expect anything else. But it was the first time she felt used by Joohyun. She left her fragrance behind, the sharp scent of it clashing with the soft flavors of Seungwan that still clung to the pillows. It was mornings like this when Sooyoung thought about Joohyun the most.   
  
How fleeting she was.  
  
How unpredictable she was.  
  
How unreachable she was for days after that night at her apartment.   
  
No calls. No texts. No sightings. It was almost like she vanished. And Sooyoung wasn’t the only one who noticed or felt her absence.   
  
There were a few other things she observed. Like the behavior of her boss. He seemed a little more stressed than usual. A little more on edge. He took more phone calls in the conference room where there wasn’t a chance to be overheard instead of his office. His poor mood seeped into his professionalism turning him into a nightmare to work with. His words were clipped, his patience shot, his frustrations bubbled and boiled over quicker than usual.  
  
Sooyoung worked hard to counter his lapse in character, doing damage control on phone calls and emails and helping the nice, sweet intern pack up that he let go because she forgot to put milk instead of cream in his coffee one morning.  
  
That’s when Joohyun got the email.  
 _  
Miss Park,  
  
Please inform my husband and Mr. Kang that I will not be in attendance at this afternoon’s meeting.   
  
—Bae Joohyun_  
  
Sooyoung read the email over and over again. She never got emails from Joohyun. There was no reason for her to. She debated whether or not to just forward it to her boss but decided against it.   
  
Getting up, she found him in his office. He looked up from his computer with expectant interest and she watched his entire expression hardened after she relayed the message.   
  
“What do you mean she isn’t coming?” he ticked.   
  
Sooyoung swallowed a snappy retort. “That’s all the email said, sir. Should I inform Mr. Kang as well?”  
  
He shook his head, waving her off with a dismissive hand. “Don’t bother.”  
  
Sooyoung left his office quickly. Pulling out her phone, she went to type out a text to Joohyun when her computer chimed with another email.   
  
_P.S. Work late tonight.  
—J_  
  
She blinked. What was Joohyun playing at? She guessed she’d find out.   
  
Deleting the email from her inbox she made sure to delete it from the trash as well just in case.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
“I’m surprised. I didn’t think you followed orders.”  
  
Sooyoung looked up from a drama rerun she was watching on her computer. Joohyun’s heels gave dull clicks as she walked along the carpeted floor, much of her face cloaked in the shadows of an office that had turned in for the night. It was only Sooyoung, her laptop, a lamp, and the distant sound of cleaners that had already come and gone from her section of the office.   
  
Hitting pause, she leaned back, trailing Joohyun’s movements up to her desk. “You say bend over I say how far.”  
  
Joohyun’s brow lifted. “You weren’t so hard to break.”  
  
“Was that what you were trying to do all along?”  
  
“It’s a secret.” She sat on the edge of Sooyoung’s desk. A paperweight caught her attention and she picked it up, playing with the heavy object in her hands.   
  
“What’s this about?”  
  
She shrugged. “I needed to pick up a few things from my husband’s office but didn’t want to do it while he was here.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
Her cheek twitched. “You’ve seen how he is.”  
  
“Worse than usual.”  
  
Joohyun sat down the paperweight and offered her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about that.” Getting up, she walked away. When she noticed Sooyoung wasn’t following, she turned over her shoulder, motioning her to come.   
  
“About what?” asked Sooyoung, hurrying after.   
  
“We’ve been having some differences and he doesn’t like it when those _beneath_ him challenge him.”  
  
“Differences?”  
  
“He’s starting to feel small for once.” She balanced back as she drew a set of keys and sifted through them for the right one. “You would understand that.”  
  
The lock unlatched and Joohyun let them into the office. It was so much larger than all the other rooms. With windows and specialty carpeting and a large desk. He even had a flatscreen tacked on the wall. Sooyoung had been inside many times but she never walked around it as freely as Joohyun did.   
  
“So, I stayed late for you to get files from an office you could open yourself?”  
  
“Didn’t you want to see me?” she asked, dropping into the leather chair. Leaning down, she pulled out a drawer and Sooyoung scoffed though she couldn’t help the color that erupted on her cheeks.   
  
Of course, she wanted to see Joohyun. Despite better judgment, she craved Joohyun in a way unhealthy. She needed to stop. How could she stop? She didn’t want to stop. “What did you need?”  
  
“Just some files,” she replied, voice muffled from where she was hidden behind the desk. Finding what she was looking for, Joohyun placed the file folder onto the desktop, cracking it open. She was quiet as she scanned over them. Sooyoung wondered what it would be like if it was Joohyun in his place. If it was Joohyun who she took orders from. If it was Joohyun she got to see every day. As if she could hear her thoughts, Joohyun looked up through her lashes. Her mouth tugged into a knowing grin. “Staring?”  
  
“Don’t flatter yourself.”  
  
Joohyun laughed. “What would you do if you were the boss here?” she asked, her eyes still on whatever was in the files.   
  
Sooyoung shrugged. She might’ve fantasized about it once or twice but her fantasies were akin to cheesy, comedic, elaborate, over the top ideas of being a girl boss in tight pencils skirts and dictatorship level control. “Budget for better toilet paper in the restrooms.”  
  
Joohyun looked up at her then, her face amused. “For someone who takes big risks, you think small.”  
  
“What would you do?”  
  
She sat back in the leather chair. It swallowed her small frame but she looked good in it. Like she belonged there. Like it was her rightful place to be. “First, I would come into my office,” she started, hands gesturing to the space around them. “I’d search through the employee roster, find the most well paid and decorated worker and call them in. Once they got inside, I would tell them how good they were, congratulate them on what they’ve done for the company. I would stroke their ego until their head was so big it would’ve fit out the door.” Her lips curled at the corners into something devilish. “Then I would fire them.”  
  
“Wow.” It was all Sooyoung could say. Because the fire coming off of Joohyun was dangerous yet smolderingly sexy. “Then what?”  
  
“Then I’d—” Joohyun eyes dragged up and down Sooyoung. “Come here and I’ll show you.” She complied without hesitation, making her way around the desk to meet Joohyun who swiveled in her chair to face her. She craned her neck back to look into her eyes. “Closer.”  
  
Sooyoung stepped closer and Joohyun reached out, slipping two fingers into the gap between the buttons of her shirt to bring her down into a kiss. Her lips were warm and sticky. Sooyoung melted into her mouth, sighing as Joohyun split her lips apart for a tongue to slide between her jaws. She tasted like she always did—like danger and desire—and Sooyoung ate every bit of it.   
  
The fingers in her shirt tugged and Sooyoung followed the pull, sinking onto her knees between thighs that split open for her to settle. Running her hands along thighs, she clawed her fingers, nails stabbing into the fabric of Joohyun slacks and scraped them downward earning a hiss in return.  
  
“Take off my pants.”  
  
Sooyoung willingly obliged. Joohyun’s slacks came off with an easy pull and she let them crumple to the floor in a heap. Hands took her face into chilly palms, angling her up to press lips together once more in a deep kiss before she was guided to the heat between milky thighs.   
  
Sooyoung trailed her lips along the skin there, tongue licking out at soft flesh just inches from the treasure she wanted. Eyes screwing up, she saw Joohyun watching her, her eyes lidded and her lips slightly parted as she drew in gentle drags of air. Eyes met hers and Sooyoung locked on as she prodded her tongue against lace and traced downward. There was so much heat radiating off her center, it burned against Sooyoung’s lips that brushed the dampness that had already seeped through her underwear.  
  
Driving her tongue forward, she pressed in further, saliva mixing with slick. Above her Joohyun sucked in a breath and Sooyoung flattened her tongue to drag it up, tracing over the swell of her clit. Lips attached and she sucked, drenching her all the more until her panties were sopping and Joohyun’s nails in her neck get too handle.   
  
“Sooyoung.”  
  
She knew that tone. With anyone else, she would’ve ignored it, kept at her teasing, but this was Irene and it had been so long since Sooyoung had her in her hands so she relented. Pulling fabric aside, she lapped straight from the well, moaning at the taste that erupted on her tongue. Above her, Joohyun sighed in relief, body sinking deeper into the chair so she could spread her knees farther apart.   
  
Cocking her head, Sooyoung speared her tongue into the heat of Joohyun’s entrance where she pooled onto her taste buds and seeped our around her lips, messing the leather of the chair she sat in. The sounds leaving her were louder now. Joohyun couldn’t last long being quiet and Sooyoung was determined to get as many moans and whimpers out of her as she good.   
  
“Sooyoung, please,” she breathed. Hands combed into her hair, gripping tightly as hips canted upward, grinding against her face.   
  
She was close. Sooyoung knew she was close. Zipping her tongue upward, she found that swollen bud again and took it into her teeth. Joohyun yelped when she bit down just hard enough for it to barely hurt but her utterance of pain was quickly taken over by a loud groan when Sooyoung soothed her over with lovely little sucks.   
  
“Soo—“ her breath hitched. Her grip tightened. Her muscles ceased. _“Yes.”_  
  
Joohyun’s thighs quivered around her head as she came, head thrown back and hips rutting up against Sooyoung’s mouth until she couldn’t take anymore and pulled back to escape the mouth that would keep devouring if allowed to.   
  
Sooyoung licked her lips.   
  
Reaching up, she pulled Joohyun down to kiss her, forcing her to taste herself off her lips. Joohyun responded eagerly, drawing Sooyoung’s tongue into her mouth and sucked. It was all too much and Sooyoung couldn’t take it anymore. Pushing off the floor, she climbed into Joohyun’s la, straddling her hips. Hands grabbed onto the sides of her face, to hold herself steady and Joohyun in place as she ground down seeking any sort of friction to rid of the fiery ache between her legs.   
  
“Sooyoung,” Joohyun panted into the assault against ht mouth. Her face was all glossy and wet and sticky from saliva and herself. “Sooyoung, not here. Not here, not here.”  
  
“Why not?” She whimpered.  
  
Joohyun smirked. “We have all night.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She had to admit that she didn’t believe Joohyun when she said they had all night. But they did and there she was in the morning. Sooyoung woke up in a jolt, her eyes snapping open and sitting up amongst the blankets. Her neck swiveled until she found Joohyun beside her. She was just sitting there on the opposite side of the bed, back propped on the headboard and her head rested on her knees that she held pulled up to her chest.   
  
It took Sooyoung five seconds too long to realize that what she was seeing wasn’t a dream and she laid back down, head cradled in her pillow as she looked back to Joohyun. They were like that for a while. Silence, the soft glow of dawn barely touching the curtains. Joohyun blinked, she licked her lips, and she stared.   
  
Sooyoung only dragged her eyes away when the clock on the nightstand hit seven in the morning and she reached over to turn off the alarm radio. “Morning.”  
  
“Morning,” Joohyun replied, her voice rickety from nonuse. “I should go soon but I was curious about something.”  
  
Sooyoung turned over on her side and propped her head up on the heel of her hand. Of all the times she fantasized about waking up to Joohyun like this, there was something missing. Something off. It didn’t feel quite right. “About?”  
  
“Why did you settle on me when you could go directly to the source?” She said. “You could’ve seduced my husband.”  
  
Not what she was expecting. “It’s too risky.”  
  
“What if I told you it wasn’t?”  
  
Sooyoung raised her eyebrows.   
  
Joohyun lifted her head off her and turned on the mattress to cross her legs. The blanket around her settled in her lap leaving her in only the lace of her bra, hair falling over her shoulders and blurring into the deep color of the fabric. “Do you ever ask yourself why I can be okay with going behind my husband’s back?”   
  
“A good orgasm is important.”  
  
Joohyun laughed softly. She shook her head, strands of black waving in her face until she sobered. “That was true but it wasn’t all of it.” She bit her lip. Was she nervous? Sooyoung thought so. Maybe that’s what was making the morning with Joohyun feel strange. She wasn’t herself. “There’s a lot that you don’t know about me, Sooyoung. About us. What I can tell you is that I can be okay with it because he does it to me.”  
  
Sooyoung’s stomach curdled.  
  
“I’ve known for a while now. You’ve probably seen the way he is at work.”  
  
Of course, Sooyoung did. She knew he was charming. She knew he would flirt. Even with his temperament, he had a way about him that Sooyoung saw some of the other women swoon over. He was powerful with money. Who wouldn’t? She heard rumors, she heard gossip, she heard fantasies. She wouldn’t put it past him that there was the occasional affair going on here and there but she didn’t entertain the thought much. He didn’t matter to her.   
  
“This isn’t just about getting off,” she admitted. “This is about getting back.”  
  
Sooyoung’s throat tightened. That feeling of being secondhand was creeping back up on her. “You could’ve told me.”  
  
“I didn’t plan on this going as long or as far as it has.” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It was the first real mundane thing Sooyoung saw her do. When she let her gaze settle back on Sooyoung she looked tired. “I didn’t plan to bring you into it.”  
  
Her eyebrow lifted. “Bring me into it?”  
  
“I want you to sleep with him.”  
  
Wait...“What?”  
  
“Imagine how much of a win that would be,” said Joohyun. “We could laugh about it afterward. There will be a lot to laugh about.”  
  
Sooyoung’s brow creased. Her insides were going crazy, firing off all sorts of alarms followed by waves of static and prickles of nerves. She didn’t know which to cling onto. She didn’t know which one to feel first.  
  
“You...would be okay with that?” she asked slowly, sitting up so that their eyes were level.   
  
“Yes.” The sun had finally made up far enough over the horizon that the golden rays cut through, glittering in Joohyun’s eyes, lighting them up molten. There was a mad look in her eyes. Insane, giddy, determined. It made Sooyoung’s spine tingle.   
  
“Then what?”  
  
“Your plan to target me didn’t really work the way you planned,” she started. “I wanted this, too. If you really want to hold something over him, go for him. Make him remember it every time he tries to make you do something you don’t want. Every time he takes something away from you.”  
  
Sooyoung turned over the idea in her head. She had to admit, Joohyun had a point. Why didn’t she go for the big fish instead of playing with all these little tadpoles that meant nothing in the long run? And with all the secrets and intel Joohyun had given her about her boss, it would be such a pleasure to claim him then drop him, leave him begging and wanting more.  
  
“What makes you think he would want to?”   
  
“I know he will,” said Joohyun with confidence. “I was confused about your motives in the beginning because I saw him watching you, too. You missed all the signs because you’ve been interested in the small prize.” She reached over tapping her knuckle beneath Sooyoung’s chin. “You’re worth the big prize, Sooyoung.”  
  
She simmered. “Do you really think it would work?”  
  
Teeth flashed in a grin. “I know it will.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It served easy to catch the eye of her boss. Or perhaps Joohyun was right—she was just never paying attention.   
  
She used the same tactics as she usually did. Men were always more telling than women, easier to read, quicker to flirt back. But unlike all the others, Sooyoung worked slow. If Joohyun was any indication of how her husband was behind the cloak of boss status, she would have to tread lightly, wiggle herself in, come at the right angle.   
  
She held her eyes on the clock, watching the large hand make its lazy way around until the right hour. Not too early but not too late.   
  
Knocking on his door, she waited for a summons before opening it up. The room smelled like cologne. The expensive kind. And if Sooyoung had to admit it, her boss was a nice looking man who always dressed well and maintained a polished appearance. So it was easy to put on a smile and sprinkle sweetness into her voice when she asked,  
  
“Could I get you anything, sir?”  
  
He looked up at her from his papers, a wrinkle of confusion in the middle of his forehead.  
  
“I was headed out an errand and thought you might want something.” She did a quick survey of his desk, making sure there were no spare mugs or paper cups. “Maybe coffee?”  
  
“A coffee would be nice.” He smiled. He had a long, lopsided sort of smile with a dimple. He and Joohyun really did make a gorgeous power couple. “Thank you, Miss Park. Should I write down my order?”  
  
“Black Americano?”  
  
His eyebrows lifted in surprise and mellowed out into pleased. “This is why you’re one of my favorites.”  
  
Her eyes creased as she amped up her smile. Now to shoot her shot. “Always happy to serve, sir.”  
  
His eyes darkened. Perfect.   
  
Bowing, she slipped away from the office and went to retrieve her purse from her desk. Her heart was hammering in her chest, veins swimming with adrenaline. She thought all the other victims were insane. She was wrong. Her boss truly was the ultimate conquest and she was reeling from the anticipation of having him in her hands.  
  
 _—I think I have him,_ Sooyoung sent to Joohyun.   
  
_—Good,_ she replied.  
  
Sooyoung’s stomach fluttered.   
  
She couldn’t fucking wait.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
It took three more days before the timing locked in just right. Like the days previous, Sooyoung kept her eyes on the clock, watching as the hours ticked closer to the end of the day. Her boss’s schedule was unpredictable. Sometimes he left early, sometimes late, sometimes right on time. It was well past the typical clock out time and Sooyoung watched and waved to the other staff leaving for the day with one eye always on the door to her boss’s office.  
  
He was staying rather late tonight. A cluster of meetings kept him from getting work done and a bout of phone calls held him back late into the evening. It was finally her chance.   
  
Booting down her computer, the vibration of her phone caught her attention and she picked it up. It was Seungwan. A message asking if she wanted to come over to watch a movie.   
  
A trill of laughter sounded off in the office. Sooyoung peered across the way. There were still two others left to leave. They were taking forever and Sooyoung was getting impatient. She didn't know how much longer her boss was going to be in and if she missed tonight she would have to wait an entire weekend or more before she got a chance.   
  
She shuddered as a tingle of nerves washed over her giving her goosebumps. She was nervous. She was excited. She was out of her fucking mind but a challenge was a challenge and she couldn’t back out now.  
  
Thumbs working quickly, she let Seungwan know she would be working late just as the pair of officemates made their way toward the hall. They bid Sooyoung a goodnight as they passed and she waited until she heard the elevator ding and shut before getting up.   
  
Sooyoung had to stop there. Her legs were heavy and her insides were fuzzy. Her stomach was doing all sorts of things and her heart was pounding harder than the night she had Joohyun in that bathroom.  
  
She almost thought she was going to fall over as she walked the gap in space between her desk and his office. Maybe she shouldn’t have worn heels. As if. She always wore heels. She needed the heels.   
  
Taking a breath, she knocked.  
  
“Yes?” his voice called out, soulless and heavy.  
  
Sooyoung hesitated. Maybe tonight wasn’t the best night.  
  
“Who’s there?” he called out again.  
  
Now or never.   
  
Sooyoung opened the door. “Hello, sir.”  
  
Tired eyes turned up to her. She waited in the couple seconds of silence as he ate her up with his eyes. She chose to wear the one work appropriate skirt that was a tad on the shorter and tighter side and the blouse that cut deep but not too deep. She’d drawn many eyes that day for it. Including his though he was discreet about it. With only the two of them, that discretion was thrown out the window and Sooyoung soared.   
  
“Miss Park,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He filled it out differently than Joohyun. Like a true commander. "You’re here late.”  
  
“I could say the same for you.”  
  
He chuckled. “When others don’t do what they’ve been told to do, their burden falls on others shoulders.”  
  
“Maybe I could help you take a load off?” said Sooyoung.  
  
His eyebrows lifted. “Oh?”  
  
“I can take any load you’d like.” She bit her lip, eyes darting down then dragging back up slowly to his eyes. “It doesn’t matter how big.”  
  
He rubbed his chin. Sooyoung could see his internal debate in his deep, placid eyes. They were very much like Joohyun’s. Almost unreadable. Calculating. Dark. “There may be something you could help with,” he finally said. “Would you come over here?”  
  
“Is that an order?”  
  
His mouth twitched as if he didn’t want it to happen but he couldn’t help the smirk that creased the dimple into his chin. “That’s an order.”  
  
She made her way slowly, keeping their eyes locked as she rounded the desk. It was just like the night with Joohyun. And Joohyun was all she could think about as he rolled back, turning his chair so he faced her. His hand was larger—thicker—but just as hot as Joohyun’s as he took hers. She could hear Joohyun’s voice in her head, asking her to come closer as he led her into him, aiding her as she brought one leg then the other to straddle his waist.  
  
She braced her hands on his shoulders to keep herself upright while his hands settled onto her hips, holding her in place.  
  
“Are you sure you want to help me?” he asked, his voice black as night. A hand lifted off her hip to curl around her chin, thumb stroking across her bottom lip. Sooyoung licked her lips so the tip of her tongue grazed the pad of his finger.   
  
“Yes,” she breathed.  
  
Her breath was caught in his as he drew her in. The kiss was everything Sooyoung was expecting it to be. Heavy. Thick. Hard. His mouth was nothing like Joohyun’s that was soft, smoldering, and gliding and they were both a far reach from Seungwan who was gentle and purposeful and evocative. But this wasn’t about that and Sooyoung let him split her lips open and let his tongue meet hers. She let him pull her in close, tighter, letting her grind down in his lap. A jolt went through Sooyoung and she was reminded what this was about. This was hers for the taking.   
  
Hands leaving his shoulders, she brought them around his neck, deepening the kiss with her own fervor. She felt him tense beneath her but that tension slowly began to wane when she ignored the guide of his hands to move her hips the way she wanted.   
  
He was needy for her, hard and responsive. Sooyoung shuddered as she rolled her hips, canting against him. She could feel his lungs expanding against her chest that was pressed against hers, each breath deep and desperate. Sooyoung smirked against his mouth and sank her teeth into his bottom lip. He grunted when she bit down and pulled back only to let it go with a set snap.  
  
“Was that okay?” she asked, looking down into his eyes.  
  
He didn’t look very pleased with her actions but his body was telling her a different story. From the hips that were now pushing up against her downward strokes to the hands on her hips that were gripping almost hard enough to bruise, to the arousal that spilled out of his eyes.   
  
A hand lifted to grip her chin between strong fingers. “How about you put that mouth somewhere else?”   
  
A thumb dragged along her bottom lip and Sooyoung licked at it before taking it into her mouth. Sucking it in, she bobbed her head on the digit, observing the way he watched her do it, noting the way his jaw flexed when she let it sink down to the knuckle, seeing the way his eyes narrowed, so telling of the lewd thoughts of what she could be doing elsewhere.  
  
With a hum, Sooyoung pulled herself off his thumb with a wet slurp. “As you wish, sir—”  
  
“Sorry, I didn’t think I would be able to make—”  
  
Everything stopped.   
  
Sooyoung jerked away, neck snapping around to where the office door had been opened. She was met with Joohyun’s unwavering stare, shock painted on her face. The expression didn’t look right on her. Joohyun didn’t get shocked and Joohyun shouldn’t be shocked. She shouldn’t look so betrayed and there shouldn’t be malice in the upturn of her lip as she took all of Sooyoung in.   
  
“What is this?” she demanded, her voice hard.   
  
It was her boss who answered. “Joohyun, I can explain.”  
  
“Explain what? That you’re an asshole?” Joohyun spun around.  
  
“Joohyun!” He tried to get up but Sooyoung was still stunned in place. “Get off. Get off me!”   
  
Hands pushed at her and Sooyoung clumsily left his lap, nearly tripping. She caught her wait on the edge of the desk, righting herself up as he darted out of the office after his retreating wife. She heard voices erupt from somewhere deep in the building as the two began arguing. Words flew like knives from Joohyun’s mouth countering the daggers he threw back at her.   
  
Sooyoung sank down, crouching behind the desk, making herself as small as possible. She wished she could disappear. She wished she could evaporate. All these lovely little warm giddy feelings that had bubbled in her stomach having her boss in her hands was gone. All the heat and desire Joohyun had created in her had gone cold.  
  
She messed up.  
  
She really, really messed up.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Sooyoung got home quickly, locking herself in as if someone was following her.   
  
What the hell happened? Joohyun wasn’t supposed to be there.  
  
She waited another hour before trying to text her. No response. She called another half hour later. Straight to voicemail.   
  
Shit.   
  
Shit. Shit. Shit.   
  
Sooyoung sat down. She needed to calm down. She needed to relax.   
  
She couldn’t take it.   
  
“Hello?”  
  
“Still up for that movie?”  
  
“Is everything okay?” asked Seungwan.  
  
Sooyoung swallowed. She couldn’t let her nerves show. She had to keep it together. “Long day,” she lied. “So, movie?”  
  
“I just put it in but I can start it over.”  
  
Bless Seungwan, Sooyoung thought. “I’ll see you in a little bit.”   
  
She hung up and let out a breath. A movie would be a good distraction. Seungwan would be a good distraction. Anything would be a good distraction from the disaster that had just taken place.   
  
Grabbing her purse, she headed out.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The weekend came and went. Sooyoung spent most of it as a buzzing ball of nerves. Joohyun wouldn’t return any of her messages or calls. Bad sign. Her boss didn’t send her any emails or try to contact her. Good sign? Maybe there was nothing to worry about.   
  
It wasn’t like Joohyun didn’t know what Sooyoung was going to do. She asked her to after all. And maybe it was all an accident when she showed up. Sooyoung never told her when she was going to enact their plan and she couldn’t very well act unfazed walking in on her husband with another woman.   
  
The rational parts of her brain started to function again and Sooyoung relaxed. It was okay. Everything was okay. It was all okay. Monday was a new day and all was okay.   
  
Except that’s when the world began to crumble.   
  
She woke up to her phone ringing. She pulled her head off the pillow, squinting at the clock on the nightstand. Who was calling her at six in the morning?   
  
Grabbing her phone out of the sheets she brought it to her ear with a yawn. “Hello?”  
  
“Are you okay?” asked Yeirm.  
  
She rolled over onto her back, combing her hair out of her face. “Yeah, why?”  
  
“You’re asking why? Seriously?”  
  
Sooyoung’s brow creased. Yerim sounded off. “What do you mean seriously?”  
  
She heard Yerim breathe a curse. “Look up the news.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Look up the news. Now.”  
  
Getting up, she made her way to her desk and cracked open her laptop. She moved her fingers over the keys, typing in her password then opening an internet browser. Her default homepage popped up. There was a news column part of it and she clicked through the various headlines until she landed on one.  
  
 _Co-Founder Of Large Corporation Under Investigation  
_  
The picture attached was a snapshot of her building. With a click, she opened the full article to find her boss’s face at the top of the page and her nerves spiked. Scrolling through, her eyes scanned the text digesting the words as quickly as she could when she saw it.  
  
 _His latest victim, Park Sooyoung, was an assistant at the company who worked closely with him. Miss Park has not spoken out on these allegations thus far._  
  
“Oh my god.”  
  
“Tell me there’s another Park Sooyoung at your company,” said Yerim.  
  
“Oh my god.”  
  
Yerim sighed. “Soo, is this true?”  
  
Sooyoung pushed away from the computer. She couldn’t look at it anymore. She paced, a hand running through her hair. Of course, it was true. It was true she was his assistant, that they worked closely together, that they nearly slept together but who knew about that? And who knew about the—  
  
 _Footage was released anonymously to the police late Friday night containing numerous encounters of the co-founder and various women some of who were interns at the company._  
  
Sooyoung’s stomach dropped. There was one person who knew. One person who was there. One person who had access to get all of that information. One person who would’ve released her name along with only three others.   
  
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She ran for the bathroom feeling a heavy bout of nausea hit her with the realization of the betrayal. Turning on the faucet, she ran the water cold and splashed some onto her face.   
  
Joohyun wouldn’t have done that would she? She couldn’t have. That wasn’t her. She didn’t want anything getting out. She worked so hard keeping everything contained, streamlined, in control. Maybe too much control. She was always the one pushing the buttons, guiding them, gauging how far they would go. She was the one who suggested the idea of going for her boss. She was the one who showed up that night. She was the one who looked at Sooyoung like she was insane.   
  
“Hold it together. I’ll be right over.”  
  
“No!” She shut off the water and moved to sit on top of the toilet. She was shaking. “No, I'm fine. I’m okay. It’s going to be okay.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
No. She wasn’t. She wasn’t okay. Nothing was going to be okay. Her name was out there. Her dirty laundry was out there for everyone to see. God, what were they saying about her? What did they think of her? This was never supposed to happen. Not with him.   
  
“I just need to breathe.”  
  
She took in long drags of air but each one felt another tick closer to hyperventilation. Oh god. Oh my god. She was ruined. She was so ruined.  
  
“Sooyoung, what were you thinking?”  
  
She hung up. She couldn’t take that right now. She wasn’t thinking. Or she was. She was only thinking about Joohyun. About what she wanted from her. Needed from her. She should’ve known something was wrong the night she showed up at the office. She should’ve suspected. She should’ve—  
  
A knock echoed off her door.  
  
Sooyoung froze.  
  
What if it was the cops?  
  
It couldn’t be. It wouldn’t be.  
  
The knocks came again. They were soft. From all the TV she watched, cops didn’t knock softly. They banged.  
  
She got up on shaky legs that took her to the door. Peering through the peephole, she was met with a pair of brown eyes. She was numb as she undid the lock and opened it up.  
  
“Soo?”  
  
That one word and she broke.  
  
Arms caught her, leading her into the apartment and shut the door.  
  
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay,” Seungwan cooed, a hand running up and down her back. “I’m here. I’m with you. It’s going to be okay.”   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She always felt bad for others in the wake of a disaster. She always heard others talk about the walk of shame but she never experienced it. Sooyoung was a top dog, a winner, a ruler. She didn’t slither, she strutted. But there was no way to strut into the office with the weight of humiliation that was on her shoulders.  
  
She was greeted by the usual sounds. Phones ringing, fingers tapping, the click of heels and shuffle of business shoes, the soft chatter of employees yet to settle in and get to work for the day. The second wave of greetings are eyes. So many eyes. Staring, judging, pitying. Hating.   
  
It took everything in her not to turn around and walk out. She couldn’t do that. She had to face it head on. She has to be strong.   
  
Reaching her desk, she stopped short. Exiting her boss’s office was Joohyun. With her was the founder. Their eyes passed over her as they continued their trek into the hall and Sooyoung found her seat at her desk where she sat down.  
  
She went through the motions, turning on her computer, flicking on her lamp, grabbing her coffee mug in preparation to make a stop at the breakroom to fill up. She tried to be normal, make everything feel normal, but it wasn’t. She could feel the eyes glancing her way, she could hear the whispers. Seungwan told her to take a few days off but she was stubborn and a few days off would make it harder to face the onslaught of judgment. Rip the bandaid off and deal with it, she always said. But no bandaid ever hurt as much as hearing—  
  
“Miss Park.”  
  
Sooyoung looked up from her computer screen where her cursor was blinking on the screen, waiting for her to type in her password to log in. Looking at Joohyun was like recalling a really bad dream. She wished she could pinch herself and wake up. “Yes?”  
  
“Can I see you in my office?”  
  
Without a word, she got up and followed. She expected them to go to a different room but they walked into her boss’s office. The door shut with a click behind them and Sooyoung stood in the middle of the room, her hands held together in front of her. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Joohyun as she sat down at the desk. If she looked at her too long there was no telling what she would do.   
  
“How are you doing?” asked Joohyun. Sooyoung was rocketed back to the events that happened behind that desk in that same chair. Not with Joohyun but both of them. Each experience blurred into the other making her sick.   
  
“Are you serious?” she hissed, finally bringing her eyes up. Joohyun looked so small in that chair but it was Sooyoung who felt like an ant easily squished beneath a murderous thumb.   
  
“Yes.”  
  
The floodgates opened and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “You used me.”  
  
Joohyun’s lashes fluttered as if she was taken aback. Sooyoung knew better than to believe it. She wasn’t sure what she could believe of all the moments she had with Joohyun prior to this. “I won’t lie to you, Sooyoung.”  
  
“Oh, _now_ you don’t want to lie to me?”  
  
Her gaze shifted to the door then back. “Please, keep your voice down.”  
  
“What’s wrong? Are you afraid that your dirty laundry will be displayed for everyone to see?”  
  
Joohyun grimaced. “I didn’t have a choice.”  
  
“Bullshit. You—”  
  
“Let me speak,” Joohyun snipped. Sooyoung was mad at herself for relenting, her teeth clicking shut as commanded. “I’ve been building a case against my husband for years,” she started. “He’s a womanizer and a crook. I had a few stories already but I needed more. When you willingly accepted, I knew I could use that. Once your story went public, the others started to pour in.”  
  
Sooyoung had so many questions about that. Mainly how the hell was Joohyun such a good damn liar. Perhaps that’s what hurt the most. “You could’ve told me. We could’ve worked—”  
  
“Together?” Joohyun frowned. It looked so genuine for a moment Sooyoung forgot to be angry but with each word Joohyun said after, the more nails were hammered into her skin. “What did you think it was we had? Did you think we would get him taken away and I would come back to you? Sooyoung, just like you, this was about winning something. He has taken everything away from me, my identity, my freedom, my ideas, _my_ company. I waited for years to bring him down.” Her voice dropped like she was embarrassed to admit that, “When I saw an opening I took it.”  
  
Sooyoung’s legs felt heavy. The more Joohyun said, the more everything made sense. The more her actions, the things she said, the way she held Sooyoung close but not close enough made perfect sense. She signs were there the entire time but she ignored them. She couldn’t see them. She was blinded. But how couldn’t she be?  
  
Joohyun talked her up. Told her things that made her believe she actually meant something more than being a chess piece on a game board. There was no way to see through that when Joohyun laid it on so heavily and made everything out of her mouth sound sincere.   
  
“And me?” she muttered like a whimper.   
  
“Collateral damage.”  
  
The air knocked out of her. “This isn’t fair.”  
  
“I know. I know and I am sorry.”  
  
Bile rose up in her throat. “No, you’re not.”  
  
“I am.” She stood up, speaking as she rounded the desk to where Sooyoung stood. “When I told you I liked spending time with you, that it wasn’t that simple anymore, I meant it. You were in my head, Sooyoung.” She stopped in front of her, head tilted to the side as she looked up at her with a softness in her eyes that Sooyoung only got glimpses of trapped behind the darkness and the heat she was used to seeing. “I thought about you, I wanted you. I liked you. I didn’t expect things to get so deep. I wasn’t supposed to get distracted.” She shook her head, mouth tugging downward. “I tried to push you away.”  
  
“Onto my ex!” she snarled. So that’s what she meant. That’s why she kept asking about Seungwan.   
  
“I didn’t want you to have to go through this alone,” Joohyun countered.  
  
Sooyoung backed away from her, removing herself from the cloud of Joohyun’s presence. Fingers pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to calm herself down from the realization that Joohyun was planning this the entire time. Maybe not exactly with her but she just happened to fit perfectly into the scheme and she went along with it step by step like a fool.  
  
“God, Joohyun.” She clenched her jaw. She could feel the tears welling up. She didn’t want to cry. She wasn’t going to give Joohyun the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Someone like her didn’t deserve tears. “How could you?”  
  
“I know I hurt you but what you did was your decision,” she said and Sooyoung froze. “I never forced you to do any of it.”  
  
Sooyoung seethed. For so long she thought she was the monster for preying on married women. But Joohyun was the monster. The one who was really screwed up. “  
  
Fuck you, Joohyun.”  
  
“You did. Didn’t you get exactly what you wanted?” Joohyun smiled but it was broken. Empty. “Now, so did I.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
She collected her things with her head held high. She was Park Sooyoung after all and she wouldn't let anyone take her as a loser.  
  
The whispers were loud and the stares were pointed but she held her focus. In and out and be done. So what if others called her a coward for resigning? She didn’t care. She wasn’t going to allow herself to care. She wished she didn’t care.  
  
The box grew heavier and heavier as she carried it into the elevator. The lump in her throat grew thicker and thicker as she walked through the lobby toward the exit.  
  
Seungwan met her outside, catching the overwhelming weight of the box before it could slip out of her arms. Together, they piled it into the back with the rest of Sooyoung’s things that she gutted from her desk. She didn’t realize how much she accumulated over time.  
  
“It’s better this way,” said Seungwan.  
  
Sooyoung looked over at her. She was right. Joohyun was to take her boss’s seat while he was out due to the ongoing investigation. Joohyun would probably never leave that seat. She was right. She got what she wanted. She wasn’t good for her. She would ruin her.   
  
Yanking open the door, Sooyoung fell into the passenger seat. Seungwan followed suit, dropping behind the wheel. The car started with the turn of the key and she pulled off the curb. Sooyoung started into the side mirror, watching as the building faded into the distance as the drove. There was so much anger coiled in her stomach. So much shame and hurt and confusion.  
  
She should’ve known better. She should’ve backed away from Joohyun in that bathroom and never let the flames touch her.   
  
Her phone vibrated and Sooyoung’s heart twisted in her chest. She was strong but she was a mess and she couldn’t help herself but open up the text.   
  
_—I’m sorry for everything. I’ll miss you._  
  
A hand reached for hers, easing the phone out of her grip to wind fingers through hers. Sooyoung looked up to find Seungwan looking back at her. There was no judgment on her face. There was no malice no disappointment.   
  
“We’ll get through this,” she said, a soft, reassuring smile gracing her lips. There was no twist to it, no secrets, no lies, no danger.   
  
Sooyoung nodded, brushing back the tears on her cheek.   
  
Turning out the window, she watched as traffic passed.   
  
Game over.  
  
  
  
  
 _fin._  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a ride! Thank you all for reading, dropping kudos, and leaving comments. Maybe I'll come back with a little more...lighter joyrene. Until then, thank you again and take care!


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